Dr. Muhammad Mahtab Hossain Mazed

Common diseases and Nipah virus are more common in the winter season. As soon as winter comes, the competition to smell and taste the date palm juice begins! At this time, many take down the pitcher of dates from the tree and eat the raw juice directly. Many people burn palm juice in the oven to make syrup, pies or milk.

Apart from this, Jhola gur, Patali, Nalen gur, Veli gur, Balua gur, Michhari gur, etc., made of date juice are very famous.

According to Agricultural Information Service, date palm juice is usually collected in Bangladesh from Kartik to Magh month i.e. from October to March. Most of the juice is collected in Jessore, Kushtia and Faridpur.

However, the fear of spreading Nipah virus by consuming date juice is in everyone's mind. Nipah virus scare has been raised over consumption of date palm juice for more than a decade.

According to the World Health Organization, Nipah virus is a type of 'zoonotic virus', which is transmitted from animals to humans. Later it spread to others.

Nipah virus causes severe brain inflammation. The patient suffers from fever and mental restlessness. Seizures may occur at some point.

> How does Nipah virus spread in date palm juice?

Gachiris hang a pot on the tree overnight to collect the sap. Where nocturnal creatures come to drink bat juice at night. When bats feed on palm juice. Then the saliva released from their mouths and even their excrement gets mixed with the date palm juice.

Nipah virus can be directly transmitted to humans by consuming this contaminated juice raw. As a result, fever, headache, weakness, shortness of breath, cough, vomiting, diarrhea, various physical complications occur. Which can lead to death.

> How to eat date juice?

There is still no vaccine or effective treatment to prevent Nipah virus infection. Due to this, special precautions are required in consuming date juice.

First of all attention should be paid to cleanliness during collection and storage of juice. Try to cover and distribute juice quickly.

According to the research report of the World Health Organization, the main way to get rid of this virus is to use a protective cover or sap skirt at the place where the sap is collected from the trees. So that bats cannot come in contact with it.

Sap skirt is a fence made of bamboo, wood, dhincha, jute straw or polythene. Which is tied to a tree and covered from the head of the spout to the mouth of the pitcher.

However, ICDDR researchers have observed through hidden cameras that bats still urinate along the mouth of the pitcher, even when the juice bowl is covered with a mesh or sap skirt. As a result, the risk of contracting Nipah virus remains.

So avoid drinking raw date juice. Boil the juice and drink it to save life. In this case, the advice of experts is that after collecting the juice, it should be heated to 70-80 degrees Celsius. Only then will the virus die.

It is important to ensure that date palm juice has been collected with such regularity and cleanliness, so collect the juice from a trusted sourceToday wrote a column about Nipah virus infection, Dr. MM Majed, prominent researcher and founder of National Patient Welfare Society of Bangladesh wrote in his column... Nipah virus is a type of genetic virus. This infectious disease is called encephalitis, Nipah virus imported from foreign countries. The siki amount of the country is spread across the districts. Bats are responsible for the disease
Zoonotic viruses are those viruses that can spread disease from animals to humans. Bats are the primary carrier of Nipah virus. And the intermediate carrier is the pig. Besides pigs, dogs, cats, goats, horses and sheep are also known to act as intermediate carriers. During this time the symptoms of the disease can be seen in the intermediate carriers. The virus spreads from infected animals to humans in various ways. Again, this virus spreads from sick people to people.
When the Nipah virus was first identified as patients with the virus in Malaysia and Singapore, all were working in pig farms. At that time healthy people got sick from sick pigs. Nipah virus was first spread in Bangladesh by drinking raw date juice. And in India this year, the disease has spread from mangoes eaten by bats. In Bangladesh, almost every year Nipah virus is heard more or less. However, Nipah virus was largely out of the discussion this year. But since the last few days, due to the resurgence of the disease in the southern state of Kerala, the alert has again been issued almost everywhere in India. As a result, experts have to think about this disease anew.
An outbreak of Nipah virus was first detected in Malaysia in September 1998. Then in May 1999, the disease was also detected in Singapore. Nipah virus
The genus Henipavirus belongs to the family Paramyxoviridae. It is an RNA virus. The virus was named Nipah virus as it was first identified in the village of Sungai Nipah in Malaysia. Dr. the virus. Discovered by Ko Bing Chua.
About 300 people were infected by the Nipah virus when it was first detected. Out of which 100 patients died. The severity of the disease was so severe that one million pigs were euthanized or euthanized to prevent the spread of the virus. At that time, there were huge economic losses in Malaysia and Singapore. In Bangladesh, in 2001, a patient infected with Nipah virus was found in Kushtia district.

After that, it is known that bats have spread Nipah virus in date palm juice. Bat faeces can be seen sticking to the date palm juice pot.

The woman from Rajshahi had a history of drinking raw date juice after contracting Nipah virus in the country (11 January 2023). In 2022, three cases of Nipah virus were reported, including two deaths, according to the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research.

According to IEDCR data, 303 people were infected with Nipah virus in Bangladesh from December 2001-2018. 217 of them have died. Which is about 70 percent of the total affected.

Then the virus spread in 2003-2005. According to a survey by the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research published in 2013, the disease was detected in 13 districts of the country. The districts are Gaibandha, Jhenaidah, Kurigram, Kushtia, Magura, Manikganj, Mymensingh, Naoga, Natore, Nilphamari, Pabna, Rajbari, Rajshahi. People aged 8 months to 60 years were affected in these districts. However, apart from these districts, this disease is also known to spread in some other districts. Like Bangladesh, Nipah virus patients were first identified in India in 2001. At that time, a total of 65 people were infected in Siliguri city from January to February. Out of which 45 people died. 6 years after this incident in 2007 again 5 patients were found in Nadia. All the victims died.
Generally, this disease is spread through the saliva, excreta, breathing and contact of bats. The virus breeds in raw palm sap when bats drink sap from pots tied to palm trees. Later, people can become infected with Nipah virus by drinking this juice. Again, the virus can cause disease from infected people to healthy peopleNipah virus does not show any disease symptoms in bats. But when the virus enters the human body and other intermediate vectors including pigs, various disease symptoms appear within 7-14 days. If infected with Nipah virus

> All the symptoms that appear in patients infected with Nifah virus:- * Influenza or cold-fever like symptoms appear. * Affected person suffers from fever. * Sore throat, headache starts. * The patient has vomiting and muscle aches. * Mild to severe inflammation of the respiratory tract occurs if the infection progresses. Then there is severe breathing problem. In this way symptoms like pneumonia are revealed. * If the level of infection increases further, the brain cells and the brain become inflamed. As a result, tremors, dizziness, incoherent speech and various types of neurological symptoms are revealedIn general, the best way to avoid any disease is to follow the immune system. The ways to prevent this disease are:

> If infected with Nifah virus, the general person should follow all the rules:- * Stay away from the infected person. Even during burial, bathing, cremation and visiting the deceased, proper precautions must be taken,* wearing a good quality mask or mask. * Wash hands regularly with soap. * Avoid eating partially eaten fruits. * Do not drink fruit juice without pasteurization. * Do not go around the house of animals without taking proper management. * Date juice should be boiled well before drinking. There is no problem in boiling the juice and eating the jaggery of date juice* Maintain your and children's personal hygiene. *Household essentials should be properly covered.

> Pathway for Nipah virus patient:-
If the patient is thirsty, drink cold water. Prepare soup of sago, barley, milk, thin rice, native baby chicken and pigeon. If you don't have high blood pressure, feed Desi Haas chicken eggs and raw milk. Consume fruit juice but do not consume company-made juice.

> Homeo Remedies :-

Homeopathy is a symptomatic medical science. There is no specific medicine for any disease in this medical science. Especially, any viral disease that affects our country, all diseases have proper treatment in homeopathy, for this, an experienced doctor is required who selects the symptoms by giving masmatic treatment to the patient. If you do the diseaseCompletely cures Homeopathic medicine is a symptomatic medicine.There is no specific medicine for any disease in this medical science.Especially, any viral disease that affects our country, all diseases have proper treatment in homeopathy, for this, an experienced doctor is required who selects the symptoms by giving masmatic treatment to the patient. If you do the diseaseis completely cured.According to the symptoms experienced physicians first select all the remedies, viz., Sulphur, Arum Salph, Arnica montana, Arsenic alum, Eucalyptus echinacea, Agarcias mask, Aconite nap, Adonis vernellis, Apis male, Opium, Calcarea ars, Calcarea carb, Calcarea phos, Cratigus,Cuprum Mate, Glonine, Zincum, Tuberculinum, Tarantula, Nux musketta, Natrum sulph, Natrum mure, Podophyllum, Pyrogen, Passiflor, Baptisia, Belladonna, Bryonia, Viscum, Allum, Viretrum album, Viritrum viridi, Marxl, Medorinum, Stromonium, Hypaceum, Hydrophobinum, Many other medicines, including hyoscymus, hyoscine hydrobromide, may come over the symptoms.Finally, the death rate among Nipah virus victims is very high. Bats are known to spread this virus. This virus came from bats to palm juice and from juice to human body. So you should refrain from consuming raw juice of dates. It is important to increase public awareness in this regardLet's all be aware, if you don't get relief through primary treatment or medicine, take the next step on the advice of a specialist doctor.

The writer is a, physician, columnist and researcher Founder and Chairman, Jatiya Rogi Kallyan Society