India’s Nipah virus outbreak has sparked global concern due to the virus’s high fatality rate, lack of vaccines or treatment, and ability to spread from animals to humans and between people. Experts warn that climate change and habitat loss increase spillover risk,

It’s a terrible disease. Around half the people who get severe Nipah virus infection die of it. The symptoms can vary in severity. It can cause pneumonia, just as COVID could. But the illness we worry most about is neurological symptoms; Nipah can cause encephalitis, which is inflammation of the brain.