Henipaviruses, highly fatal zoonotic viruses with mortality rates up to 100%, pose a significant threat to humans. Despite sporadic cases, including infections from Cedar, Langya, and Nipah Viruses, there are no established drugs or vaccines for treatment. This lack of specific medication led us to explore 57 non-toxic compounds from Indian Medicinal Plants, selected from 232 compounds, aiming to combat these viruses. Through in silico ADMET analyses, Three compounds-andrographolide, pterygospermin and Salidroside-stood out for their exceptional non-toxic properties. These compounds underwent in silico target prediction, molecular docking and dynamics with Cedar, Langya, and Nipah Virus proteins from the Protein Data Bank. Among them, Andrographolide displayed the most promising negative free energy scores and stability in Cedar Virus-Attachment G-Protein binding pockets. Pterygospermin and Salidroside showed efficacy against Langya and Nipah Virus target proteins throughout the simulation. These compounds not only exhibited antiviral properties but also demonstrated immunomodulatory, anti-inflammatory, and hepatoprotective effects by our in-silico studies. Their potential as treatments or preventive measures against henipaviral infections makes them promising candidates for further research and development.
UNASSIGNED: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s40203-024-00236-x.

Nipah virus, a zoonotic virus from the family Paramyxoviridae has led to significant loss of lives till date with the most recent outbreak in India reported in Kerala. The virus has a considerably high mortality rate along with lack of characteristic symptoms which results in the delay of the virus detection. No specific vaccine is available for the virus although monoclonal antibody treatment has been seen to be effective along with favipiravir. The high mortality and complications caused by the virus underscores the necessity to develop alternative modes of vaccination. One such method has been designed in this study using peptide cocktail consisting of the immunologically important epitopes for use as vaccine. The human leucocytic antigens that are used for the study were analyzed for their presence in various ethnic Indian populations. This study may serve as a new avenue for development of more efficient peptide cocktail vaccines in recent future based on the population genetics and ethnicity.

The current study attempted to evaluate the potential of fifty-three (53) natural compounds as Nipah virus attachment glycoprotein (NiV G) inhibitors through in silico molecular docking study. Pharmacophore alignment of the four (4) selected compounds (Naringin, Mulberrofuran B, Rutin and Quercetin 3-galactoside) through Principal Component Analysis (PCA) revealed that common pharmacophores, namely four H bond acceptors, one H bond donor and two aromatic groups were responsible for the residual interaction with the target protein. Out of these four compounds, Naringin was found to have the highest inhibitory potential ( - 9.19 kcal mol-1) against the target protein NiV G, when compared to the control drug, Ribavirin ( - 6.95 kcal mol-1). The molecular dynamic simulation revealed that Naringin could make a stable complex with the target protein in the near-native physiological condition. Finally, MM-PBSA (Molecular Mechanics-Poisson-Boltzmann Solvent-Accessible Surface Area) analysis in agreement with our molecular docking result, showed that Naringin ( - 218.664 kJ mol-1) could strongly bind with the target protein NiV G than the control drug Ribavirin ( - 83.812 kJ mol-1).
UNASSIGNED: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s13205-023-03595-y.

The scientific community continues to be impressed with RNA-based vaccines with great efficacy, quick synthesis and speed-to-market. The traditional vaccine may require large doses or repeat injections to achieve an expression for protection against the virus; the self-amplifying mRNA vaccine addresses this limitation. Therefore, a thorough examination of the most antigenic component of the Nipah virus was carried out to design the coding sequence of an antigen, which will provoke a virus-specific immune response. After that, we predicted and evaluated epitopes from NiV G-protein. We employed 8 HTL, 2 CTL and 3 B-cell epitopes. The study of structural compatibility was done by performing docking between HLA alleles and epitopes to get insights into the immune response of epitopes. The entire peptide coding sequence of an antigen was linked using a linker to design the structure of the vaccine. Physicochemical parameters of the designed vaccine constructs were assessed using a protparam server. Later, the vaccine sequence was converted into cDNA. We inserted a gene-expressing replicase at the start of a coding sequence for self-amplification. Next, to formulate the final version of vaccine signal sequences were added. Based on these findings, this mRNA vaccine appears to be a promising option against the Nipah virus.Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma.

Bats are natural hosts for numerous zoonotic viruses, including henipaviruses, which are highly pathogenic for humans, livestock, and other mammals but do not induce clinical disease in bats. Pteropus bats are identified as a reservoir of henipaviruses and the source of transmission of the infection to humans over the past 20 years. A better understanding of the molecular and cellular mechanisms allowing bats to control viral infections requires the development of relevant, stable, and permissive cellular experimental models. By applying a somatic reprogramming protocol to Pteropus bat primary cells, using a combination of ESRRB (Estrogen Related Receptor Beta), CDX2 (Caudal type Homeobox 2), and c-MYC (MYC proto-oncogene) transcription factors, we generated bat reprogrammed cells. These cells exhibit stem cell-like characteristics and neural stem cell molecular signature. In contrast to primary fibroblastic cells, these reprogrammed stem cells are highly permissive to henipaviruses and exhibit specific transcriptomic profiles with the particular expression of certain susceptibility factors such as interferon-stimulated genes (ISG), which may be related to viral infection. These Pteropus bat reprogrammed stem cells should represent an important experimental tool to decipher interactions during henipaviruses infection in Pteropus bats, facilitate isolation and production of bat-borne viruses, and to better understand the bat biology.

BACKGROUND: An outbreak of Nipah virus infection was confirmed in Kerala, India in May 2018. Five out of 23 cases including the first laboratory-confirmed case were treated at Baby Memorial Hospital (BMH), Kozhikode. The study describes the clinical characteristics and epidemiology of the Nipah virus outbreak at Kozhikode during May 2018.
OBJECTIVE: To study the clinical and epidemiological profile of Nipah virus epidemic that occurred in Kerala in May 2018.
METHODS: A collaborative team of physicians and epidemiologists from BMH, Medical College Hospital (MCH) Kozhikode and from the Indian Medical Association (IMA) conducted this study. The clinical and exposure history and the data on outbreak response were gathered from hospital medical records and through interviewing patient relatives and health workers using questionnaires.
RESULTS: It was identified that out of the 23 patients with Nipah virus infection, 21 (91.3%) expired. Out of the 21 patients, 18 tested positive for Nipah virus by Real Time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). It has been found that only the index case was infected in the community from fruit bats. Rest of the cases were due to transmission of the virus at three public hospitals. Median age was 45 years. 65% of them were males. Median incubation period was 9.5 days. Fever (100%), altered sensorium (84.2%), tachycardia (63.1%), hypertension (36.8%), segmental myoclonus (15.7%), segmental sweating (15.7%) and shortness of breath (73.6%) were common features. Mean duration of illness was 6.4 days.
CONCLUSIONS: The rapid spread of infection uncovered the miserable state of health care system in implementing infection control measures. The case fatality and the socio-economic burden warrant developing appropriate treatments, vaccines and diagnostics.

Contact patterns play a key role in disease transmission, and variation in contacts during the course of illness can influence transmission, particularly when accompanied by changes in host infectiousness. We used surveys among 1642 contacts of 94 Nipah virus case patients in Bangladesh to determine how contact patterns (physical and with bodily fluids) changed as disease progressed in severity. The number of contacts increased with severity and, for case patients who died, peaked on the day of death. Given transmission has only been observed among fatal cases of Nipah virus infection, our findings suggest that changes in contact patterns during illness contribute to risk of infection.

OBJECTIVE: Farms that are neighboring wildlife sanctuaries are at risk of spillover infection from wildlife, and the objective of this research is to examine the species diversity of Malaysian fruit bats in livestock farm in determining the possible risk of spill over infection to livestock.
METHODS: Fifty individual fruit bats were captured using six mists net, from May to July 2017. The nets were set at dusk (1830 h) as bats emerge for foraging and monitored at every 30-min intervals throughout the night until dawn when they returned to the roost. The nets were closed for the day until next night, and captured bats were identified to species levels.
RESULTS: All the captured bats were mega chiropterans, and Cynopterus brachyotis was the highest captured species, representing 40% of the total capture. Shannon-Weiner index is 2.80, and Simpson index is 0.2. Our result suggests that there is a degree of species dominance with low diversity in Lenggong Livestock Breeding Center.
CONCLUSIONS: We concluded that fruit bats are indeed, encroaching livestock areas and the species identified could be a potential source of infection to susceptible livestock. Hence, an active surveillance should be embarked on farms that border wildlife sanctuaries.

Human Nipah virus (NiV) infection, often fatal in Bangladesh, is primarily transmitted by drinking raw date palm sap contaminated by Pteropus bats. We assessed the impact of a behavior change communication intervention on reducing consumption of potentially NiV-contaminated raw sap. During the 2012-2014 sap harvesting seasons, we implemented interventions in two areas and compared results with a control area. In one area, we disseminated a \"do not drink raw sap\" message and, in the other area, encouraged only drinking sap if it had been protected from bat contamination by a barrier (\"only safe sap\"). Post-intervention, 40% more respondents in both intervention areas reported knowing about a disease contracted through raw sap consumption compared with control. Reported raw sap consumption decreased in all areas. The reductions in the intervention areas were not significantly greater compared to the control. Respondents directly exposed to the \"only safe sap\" message were more likely to report consuming raw sap from a protected source than those with no exposure (25 vs. 15%, OR 2.0, 95% CI 1.5-2.6, P < 0.001). While the intervention increased knowledge in both intervention areas, the \"only safe sap\" intervention reduced exposure to potentially NiV-contaminated sap and should be considered for future dissemination.

Nipah virus (NiV), a paramyxovirus, was first discovered in Malaysia in 1998 in an outbreak of infection in pigs and humans, and incurred a high fatality rate in humans. We established a system that enabled the rescue of replicating NiVs from a cloned DNA. Using the system, we analyzed the functions of accessory proteins in infected cells and the implications in in vivo pathogenicity. Further, we have developed a recombinant measles virus (rMV) vaccine expressing NiV envelope glycoproteins, which appeared to be an appropriate to NiV vaccine candidate for use in humans.