WBCS Preliminary Examination 2021 — General Studies · Question 148 of 200

Answer: (A) Nipah

A study by ICMR's National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune, published in June 2021, reported Nipah virus antibodies in bats sampled from a cave at Mahabaleshwar in Satara district, Maharashtra - the first evidence of Nipah exposure in bats of that state. Nipah is a zoonotic virus whose natural reservoir is fruit bats (Pteropus); it was first identified in Malaysia in 1998-99, and India's outbreaks occurred at Siliguri (2001), Nadia (2007) and Kozhikode, Kerala (2018 onwards). Ebola and Zika have had no such bat finding in India, and the virus of COVID-19 is SARS-CoV-2.