Nipah Virus — Paramyxoviridae

VADS CORNER — Nipah Virus · Hendra Virus · Equine Morbillivirus · Lyssavirus · Menangle Virus
Online since 17 March 1999 · Comprehensively revised 3 September 2026

This page covers Paramyxoviridae, including Nipah Virus, Hendra Virus, Equine Morbillivirus (EMV), Lyssavirus and Menangle Virus. It was first posted on 17 March 1999 during the outbreak of viral encephalitis in Negri Sembilan, when a new paramyxovirus — later named Nipah — was identified. For information on Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) see the dedicated page.

Resource sites

• WHO
  • WHO Fact Sheet: Nipah virus FIXED
  • Nipah virus infection — WHO CSR FIXED
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
  • Nipah virus — CDC
  • Hendra virus — CDC
• Nipah virus infection — Wikipedia
• Merck Veterinary Manual
  • Nipah Virus Infection in Swine — Infectious Diseases
• Nipah virus — Queensland Government FIXED

New Paramyxovirus discovered — Nipah Virus (10 April 1999)

The virus was named at Seremban General Hospital by the Minister of Health on 10 April 1999.

• Factsheets about a new Paramyxovirus isolated during the viral encephalitis outbreak in Negri Sembilan — article in Berita MMA Vol.29 No.3, March 1999 by Dr Chua Kaw Bing and Prof Lam Sai Kit, Department of Medical Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya.

  

• Reservoir of Nipah Virus Identified (24 June 2000)
  • Pteropus hypomelanus (Island Flying Fox)
  • Pteropus vampyrus (Malayan flying fox / Large fruit bat)
• Dobbs and the viral encephalitis outbreak — article in Berita MMA Vol.29 No.3, March 1999 by Prof Alan Teh. See possible clinical presentation dated 16 March 1999.
• Nipah Hendra resource list, compiled by Howard Philpott. September 2005.

Neurology Asia

• Nipah Encephalitis: A report of 18 patients from Kuala Lumpur Hospital Bee-Fung Sim, Md Rani Jusoh, Choong-Chor Chang, Raihanah Khalid FIXED
• Outbreak of Nipah encephalitis among pig-farm workers in Malaysia in 1998/1999: Was there any role for Japanese encephalitis? Heng Thay Chong, Chong Tin Tan, et al.

Kerbside Consult

• Something Else Altogether — Kerbside Consult 20/2026, 17 September 2026. A 2026 retrospective on how Malaysia discovered Nipah when Japanese encephalitis stopped fitting the facts.

Cybermed Archive — Berita MMA

• Berita MMA Vol.29 No.3, March 1999
  • Cybermed: Viral Encephalitis Outbreak
  • Front page editorial: OUTBREAK: VIRAL ENCEPHALITIS – More Questions Than Answers
• Berita MMA Vol.29 No.5, May 1999
  • Cybermed: Nipah Virus Outbreak
• Berita MMA Vol.29 No.6, June 1999
  • Cybermed: Enterovirus, Haze, Nipah and Dioxin. What’s Next?
  • NIPAH EPIDEMIC – The UM Team Interview
• Berita MMA Vol.29 No.10, October 1999
  • Cybermed: Publications on recent Malaysian Outbreaks
• Berita MMA Vol.30 No.5, May 2000
  • Cybermed: Sites for the month — May 2000
• Berita MMA Vol.30 No.6, June 2000
  • Cybermed Update June 2000

Nipah Virus Encephalitis Scientific Seminar

• Programme and Abstracts of Scientific Papers (26 July 1999)

Updates — surveillance and outbreak reports

WHO disease outbreak reports (1999)

These are historical archived entries. The original WHO CSR links are now dead; the headings are retained for the record.

ProMED-mail

ProMED-mail electronic conference — search for Nipah, Paramyxovirus, Hendra, Equine Morbillivirus, Menangle or Tioman. The individual post links from 1999–2000 listed in the original version of this page no longer resolve directly; ProMED’s own archive search is the reliable route to these.

CDC

• CDC MMWR — Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report

  Both 1999 MMWR articles below were previously accessible at cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/. CDC retired that path in January 2025. The original content survives via RestoredCDC.org, an independent archival project unaffiliated with CDC.

  • Update — Outbreak of Nipah Virus, Malaysia and Singapore, 1999. 30 April 1999 / Vol. 48 / No. 16. ARCHIVE — archived at RestoredCDC.org
  • Outbreak of Hendra-Like Virus — Malaysia and Singapore, 1998–1999. 9 April 1999 / Vol. 48 / No. 13. ARCHIVE — archived at RestoredCDC.org
• National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases — CDC

Department of Veterinary Services Malaysia

• Department of Veterinary Services Malaysia

  The following DVS documents from 1999–2000 were linked from this page; they are no longer separately retrievable from the DVS site but are retained here for the historical record.

  • Press statement by Dato’ Dr Mohd Nordin (20 April 1999) ARCHIVE
  • Details of the surveillance programme (20 April 1999) ARCHIVE
  • Emergency Report to the OIE (28 May 1999) ARCHIVE
  • Nipah Virus Infection of Pigs in Peninsular Malaysia — OIE Chapter of Scientific and Technical Review (8 August 1999) ARCHIVE
  • Nipah Virus Disease in Peninsular Malaysia: Continuation of surveillance programme — OIE Disease Information Vol 13 No 12 (31 March 2000) ARCHIVE

World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH / OIE)

• World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH)
  • Nipah Disease in Malaysia, Vol.12, No.20 (28 May 1999) ARCHIVE
  • Nipah disease in Peninsular Malaysia: continuation of the surveillance programme, Vol.13–No.12 (31 March 2000) ARCHIVE
  • Nipah disease in Peninsular Malaysia: Detection of virus reactors, Vol.13–No.25 (30 June 2000) ARCHIVE

APEC EINet

APEC EINet News Briefs Archive — University of Washington. The full archive is live; selected issues covering the Nipah outbreak are linked below. FIXED

• Vol. III, No. 8 — NIPAH VIRUS IDENTIFIED AS A NEW GENUS OF VIRUSES (9 June 2000) FIXED
• Vol. II, No. 10 (18 May 1999) FIXED
• Vol. II, No. 09 (4 May 1999) FIXED
• Vol. II, No. 08 (20 April 1999) FIXED
• Vol. II, No. 07 (6 April 1999) FIXED
• Vol. II, No. 06 (24 March 1999) FIXED

Journal articles — primary sources

PubMed search links updated to current URL format. Individual abstract links (“Medline”) updated where the PMID is known.

PubMed searches

• Nipah virus FIXED
• Paramyxovirus FIXED
• Equine morbillivirus FIXED
• Hendra virus FIXED
• Ribavirin — Nipah FIXED

Science

• Nipah Virus: A Recently Emergent Deadly Paramyxovirus — K.B. Chua, W.J. Bellini, P.A. Rota et al. Science 2000;288(5470):1432–1435. FIXED

Journal of Infectious Diseases — Vol.181, No.5 (May 2000)

• Case-Control Study of Risk Factors for Human Infection with Nipah Virus during a 1998–1999 Outbreak of Severe Encephalitis in Malaysia — Parashar UD, Sunn LM, Ong F et al.
• Risk Factors for Nipah Virus Infection among Abattoir Workers in Singapore — Chew MHL, Arguin PM, Shay DK et al.

The Lancet (October 1999)

• Fatal encephalitis due to Nipah virus among pig-farmers in Malaysia — Chua KB, Goh KJ, Wong KT et al. Lancet 1999;354(9186):1257–1259.
• Outbreak of Nipah-virus infection among abattoir workers in Singapore — Paton NI, Leo YS, Zaki SR et al. Lancet 1999;354(9186):1253–1256.
• Nipah-virus encephalitis — investigation of a new infection — Farrar JJ. Lancet 1999;354(9186).

New England Journal of Medicine

• Clinical Features of Nipah Virus Encephalitis among Pig Farmers in Malaysia — Goh KJ, Tan CT, Chew NK et al. N Engl J Med 2000;342(17):1229–1235.

Selected MEDLINE abstracts

• A survey of Nipah virus infection among various risk groups in Singapore. Chan KP et al. Epidemiol Infect 2001;128(1):93–98. [PubMed]
• Isolation of Nipah virus from Malaysian Island flying-foxes. Chua KB et al. Microbes Infect 2002;4(2):145–151. [PubMed]
• Nipah encephalitis outbreak in Malaysia, clinical features in patients from Seremban. Chong HT et al. Can J Neurol Sci 2002;29(1):83–87. [PubMed]
• Nipah virus encephalitis: serial MR study of an emerging disease. Lim CC et al. Radiology 2002;222(1):219–226. [PubMed]
• Nipah virus infection among abattoir workers in Malaysia, 1998–1999. Sahani M et al. Int J Epidemiol 2001;30(5):1017–1020. [PubMed]
• Complete nucleotide sequences of Nipah virus isolates from Malaysia. Chan YP et al. J Gen Virol 2001;82(Pt 9):2151–2155. [PubMed]
• Molecular characterization of the polymerase gene and genomic termini of Nipah virus. Harcourt BH et al. Virology 2001;287(1):192–201. [PubMed]
• Treatment of acute Nipah encephalitis with ribavirin. Chong HT et al. Ann Neurol 2001;49(6):810–813. [PubMed]
• Nipah virus infection in bats (order Chiroptera) in Peninsular Malaysia. Yob JM et al. Emerg Infect Dis 2001;7(3):439–441. [PubMed]
• Tioman virus, a novel paramyxovirus isolated from fruit bats in Malaysia. Chua KB et al. Virology 2001;283(2):215–229. [PubMed]
• Comparative pathology of diseases caused by Hendra and Nipah viruses. Hooper P et al. Microbes Infect 2001;3(4):315–322. [PubMed]
• The natural history of Hendra and Nipah viruses. Field H et al. [PubMed]
• Laboratory diagnosis of Nipah and Hendra virus infections. Daniels P et al. Microbes Infect 2001;3(4):289–295. [PubMed]
• The Presence of Nipah Virus in Respiratory Secretions and Urine of Patients during an Outbreak in Malaysia. Chua KB et al. J Infect 2001;42(1):40–43. [PubMed]
• A cohort study of health care workers to assess nosocomial transmissibility of Nipah virus, Malaysia, 1999. J Infect Dis 2001;183(5):810–813. [PubMed]
• High mortality in Nipah encephalitis is associated with presence of virus in cerebrospinal fluid. Chua KB et al. Ann Neurol 2000;48(5):802–805. [PubMed]
• Emerging and re-emerging epidemic encephalitis: a tale of two viruses. Wong KT. Neuropathol Appl Neurobiol 2000;26(4):313–318. [PubMed]
• MR imaging features of Nipah encephalitis. Sarji SA et al. AJR Am J Roentgenol 2000;175(2):437–442. [PubMed]
• Risk Factors for Nipah Virus Infection among Abattoir Workers in Singapore. Chew MH et al. J Infect Dis 2000;181(5):1760–1763. [PubMed]
• Case-Control Study of Risk Factors for Human Infection with Nipah Virus, 1998–1999. Parashar UD et al. J Infect Dis 2000;181(5):1755–1759. [PubMed]
• Clinical features of Nipah virus encephalitis among pig farmers in Malaysia. Goh KJ et al. N Engl J Med 2000;342(17):1229–1235. [PubMed]
• Nipah viral encephalitis or Japanese encephalitis? MR findings in a new zoonotic disease. Lim CC et al. AJNR 2000;21(3):455–461. [PubMed]
• Fatal encephalitis due to Nipah virus among pig-farmers in Malaysia. Chua KB et al. Lancet 1999;354(9186):1257–1259. [PubMed]
• Outbreak of Nipah-virus infection among abattoir workers in Singapore. Paton NI et al. Lancet 1999;354(9186):1253–1256. [PubMed]
• A morbillivirus that caused fatal disease in horses and humans. Murray K et al. Science 1995;268:94–97. [PubMed]
• Fatal encephalitis due to novel paramyxovirus transmitted from horses. O’Sullivan JB et al. Lancet 1997;349:93–95. [PubMed]

Paramyxovirus related information

Virology resources

• Paramyxoviridae — ViralZone (ExPASy) FIXED
• Viruses: From Structure to Biology — NCBI Bookshelf
• Paramyxoviruses — NCBI Medical Microbiology
• Paramyxoviridae — Wikipedia
• Molecular Virology — University of Wisconsin ARCHIVE — site retired

Emerging Infectious Diseases (CDC)

• Emerging Infectious Diseases — peer-reviewed journal
• Emerging Viral Diseases of Southeast Asia and the Western Pacific — J.S. Mackenzie et al. Vol.7, No.3 Supplement, June 2001.
• Nipah Virus Infection Among Military Personnel Involved in Pig Culling during an Outbreak in Malaysia, 1998–1999 Vol.7, No.4, Jul–Aug 2001.
• An Apparently New Virus (Family Paramyxoviridae) Infectious for Pigs, Humans, and Fruit Bats — A.W. Philbey et al. Vol.4, No.2, 1998.

  

• Probable Human Infection with a Newly Described Virus in the Family Paramyxoviridae — K. Chant, R. Chan et al.
• Serologic Evidence for a Paramyxovirus Related to Equine Morbillivirus in Pteropus Bats — P.L. Young et al. Vol.2, No.3, 1996.
• A Novel Morbillivirus Pneumonia of Horses and its Transmission to Humans — Keith Murray et al. Vol.1, No.1, 1995.

Journal of Virology

• The Exceptionally Large Genome of Hendra Virus: Support for Creation of a New Genus within Paramyxoviridae — Lin-Fa Wang et al. J Virol 2000;74(21):9972–9979. FIXED

CSIRO Australian Animal Health Laboratory

• CSIRO
  • Fighting Nipah virus — CSIRO FIXED
  • Human monoclonal antibodies against lethal Nipah virus — Bossart et al., PLoS Pathogens (30 October 2009) FIXED — original CSIRO news release URL retired; this is the primary paper it announced, led by CSIRO Australian Animal Health Laboratory
  • Australians help solve virus puzzle — Hendra virus identification, CSIROpedia (1999) FIXED — original CSIRO media release URL retired; CSIROpedia entry covers the same ground in full
  • Hendra Virus — Developing the world’s first Hendra vaccine, CSIRO FIXED — original “Solving the Horse virus mystery” page retired; current CSIRO Hendra research page
  • Australian Bat Lyssavirus — CSIRO FIXED — original page retired; current CSIRO Australian Bat Lyssavirus page

Australian government resources

• Communicable Diseases — Australian Government Department of Health FIXED
• Communicable Disease Intelligence 1996 publications — lyssavirus, equine morbillivirus PDFs ARCHIVE — the legacy health.gov.au NSF path is retired; search the Department of Health site or AIHW for archived CDI issues.

Paramyxovirus genome

Related articles

• Outbreak Investigations — A Perspective — Emerging Infectious Diseases Vol.4, No.1, 1998.
• Globalization, International Law, and Emerging Infectious Diseases — David P. Fidler. Emerging Infectious Diseases Vol.2, No.2, 1996.
• CDC Emerging Infectious Diseases search: Paramyxoviruses
• World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH)
• Information on Japanese Encephalitis

Possible management and guidelines

• Manual on the Diagnosis of Nipah Virus Infection in Animals — FAO FIXED
• Guideline for Isolation Precautions in Hospitals — CDC FIXED
• Biosafety in Microbiological and Biomedical Laboratories (BMBL) — CDC FIXED
• Infection Watch, University Malaya Medical Centre (Thanks to Prof Ngeow of Medical Microbiology and Sister Habibah)
  • January 1999
  • February 1999

Communicable disease control and surveillance

• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
• UK Health Security Agency FIXED — successor to the Public Health Laboratory Service (PHLS), which closed in 2003.
• CDC MMWR — Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report
• World Health Organisation (WHO)
• Emerging Infectious Diseases — peer-reviewed journal, CDC
• National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases — CDC
• USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service FIXED

News online — archive

Most individual news article links from 1999–2018 no longer resolve. Where a live link has been verified it is shown; all others are retained as a historical record of contemporaneous coverage.

India — 2018 Kerala outbreak

• Nipah virus infection: death toll in Kerala rises to 11 — The Hindu (22–23 May 2018) FIXED
• High alert after three deaths due to fever — The Hindu (19–23 May 2018) FIXED
• Kozhikode: 11 die of suspected Nipah virus infection — Indian Express (23 May 2018) FIXED

Malaysia — 1999 outbreak (The Star)

New Straits Times, Bernama, Utusan, Straits Times Singapore (1999)

BBC (1999)

• Bats blamed for disease outbreak — BBC (19 May 1999) FIXED
• More Malaysian pigs to be culled (7 May 1999) ARCHIVE
• Dog slaughter follows pig cull (20 April 1999) ARCHIVE
• Malaysian pig cull extended — BBC (28 March 1999) FIXED
• Malaysia virus confusion — BBC (26 March 1999) FIXED
• Pig slaughter begins in Malaysia — BBC (21 March 1999) FIXED

CNN, Associated Press, New York Times, New Scientist, Boston Globe (1999–2000)

Most 1999–2000 news coverage from these outlets is now behind paywalls or no longer indexed. Two items have been recovered.

• CNN — Malaysia Nipah virus coverage (March–May 1999) ARCHIVE — not found in any accessible archive
• New Scientist: Bats are prime suspects in Malaysian epidemic (22 May 1999) ARCHIVE — not found in any accessible archive
• New York Times — Killer Virus Linked to Asian Flying Foxes (15 August 2000) FIXED — original NYT URL inaccessible; full article text reprinted with attribution at The Pig Site
• Boston Globe — Malaysia’s killer virus first of its kind (8 April 1999) ARCHIVE — not found in any accessible archive
• Associated Press — U.S. scientists search for origins of deadly Malaysian virus (3 May 1999) FIXED — full article text preserved at nipah.tripod.com
• Asiaweek — Malaysia battles to contain a virus spread from infected pigs (2 April 1999) ARCHIVE — not found in any accessible archive
• Time Asia — Hog Hell (5 April 1999) ARCHIVE — not found in any accessible archive
• ABC Foreign Correspondent — Malaysia: Pig Virus (18 May 1999) ARCHIVE — not found in any accessible archive

Medline search, medical journals and search engines

• PubMed (NLM) — search for relevant articles directly.
• Medical Journal Sites — look up relevant articles.

First posted 17 March 1999 · Comprehensively revised 3 September 2026
Disclaimer · cyberdoc@vadscorner.com · View original 1999–2026 page