Bengaluru: Stop feeding pigeons, they too spread Nipah

Bengaluru: The Nipah virus outbreak that has sparked panic in Kerela has raised serious concerns in the city. Harsha, a bird rescuer has pointed out that feeding of pigeons could also lead to the outbreak of the flu in the future.

“Today we are talking about bats and tomorrow we will be talking about pigeons. This force feeding at Cubbon Park and Lalbagh must stop or else we will wait for another outbreak caused from bats and that will be difficult to control," Harsha said.

"Nipah virus is transmitted from bats to human by consumption of food contaminated by body fluids from infected fruit bats. Pigs are intermediate host. Humans can contract infection from a pig with active disease by coming in close frequent contact, handling raw meat from infected animal or consuming poorly cooked meat," said Dr Vidya Jagadeesan, consultant- infectious diseases, Columbia Asia Hospital, Whitefield.

She also added that the human to human transmission has also been known to occur, mostly in family and caregiver of the infected patients.