Disease Outbreak News

2002 - Bangladesh

30 August 2002

Description of the situation

30 August 2002

Disease Outbreak Reported

The Government of Bangladesh has informed WHO that the preliminary findings of the investigation of an outbreak of a severe encephalitic illness in Meherpur, Bangladesh in April-May 2001 are now available (see previous report). The results of serological tests on clinical samples performed by the WHO Collaborating Centres, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, United States, suggest that the aetiological agent may be Nipah or a closely related virus.