A recent scientific study has revealed that a bat-borne virus unrelated to Nipah has been infecting humans in Bangladesh, raising new questions about zoonotic disease surveillance in South Asia. While Nipah virus, a deadly pathogen spread by fruit bats, is already a known public health threat in parts of India and Bangladesh, researchers found evidence of another virus called Pteropine orthoreovirus (PRV) in patients who displayed severe symptoms similar to Nipah but tested negative for it.
Published in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases, the research highlights that PRV, previously overlooked because it mimics Nipah-like symptoms, was detected in archived throat swab samples from five patients who had recently consumed raw date-palm sap, a known transmission route for bat viruses in the region.
Scientists say this discovery suggests that dangerous bat viruses may be circulating among humans more often than recognized, especially in areas where human-bat interfaces are common. The findings have implications for India and other nations where these viruses are endemic and illustrate the need for broader surveillance and testing beyond just Nipah virus.
Hidden Virus Found: What the Study SaysResearchers from the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University and Bangladeshi partners analysed stored clinical samples from five patients in Bangladesh who were originally suspected of having Nipah virus infection due to symptoms like fever, headache, vomiting, fatigue and neurological involvement. However, standard tests for Nipah came back negative.
Using advanced genomic techniques, viral capture sequencing (VCS), scientists identified genetic material of Pteropine orthoreovirus (PRV) in these samples and were able to grow the live virus in culture, confirming active infection.PRV belongs to a family of viruses known to be carried by bats and previously documented mostly in animals or associated with mild human illness in other parts of the world. The new finding in Bangladesh indicates that the virus can cause serious symptoms in humans, including respiratory and brain-related illness, and may evade detection if only standard Nipah tests are used.
Why This Matters in Nipah-Endemic Regions
This development is especially significant as the Nipah virus continues to pose a serious public health threat in Bangladesh and neighbouring parts of India, including West Bengal and Kerala, where periodic outbreaks have been reported. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), Nipah infections carry a high fatality rate of 40–75% and can spread through contact with infected bats, contaminated food, or direct human-to-human transmission.
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