Nipah: Using sticks to find a fatal virus with pandemic potential : Short Wave

Nipah: Using sticks to find a fatal virus with pandemic potential Enlarge this image toggle caption Fatima Tuj Johora for NPR Fatima Tuj Johora for NPR The Nipah virus is on the World Health Organization's short list of diseases that have pandemic potential and therefore post the greatest public health risk. With the Nipah virus came encephalitis — swelling of the brain — and its symptoms: fever, headache and sometimes even coma. Sponsor Message "People couldn't say if we were dead or alive," say Khokon and Anwara, a married couple who caught the virus in a 2004 outbreak. The hope is to avoid a Nipah virus pandemic.