Policies

Although T.A.N. has mostly focused on dealing with already existing outbreaks of Nipah, we also hope to have a lasting impact by helping put into place larger scale protocols that could help at-risk countries avoid infections of Nipah altogether.

Limit Number of Animals/m^2

One policy we feel governments in at-risk countries should put in place immediately is limiting the number of animals in zoos, farms and other livestock keeping institutions, per square meter. This could reduce the transmission rate of NiV once it has infected one animal.

Land Distribution

It could also be key to ensure that all animal-keeping institutions in at-risk countries have the resources and capacity to divide into several smaller bases by acquiring more land. As a result, land would be less densely populated with animals and owners would be able to separate animal species in different enclosures.

Species Isolation

In all institutions holding pigs in at-risk countries, pigs should be kept separate from other species. This method was adopted by Malaysia after their outbreak in 1999, and Nipah has not been detected there since.

Sanitation in Animal Holding Institutions

Proper hygiene in any institutions holding animals, especially pigs, should follow proper sanitation practices in enclosures. Sanitary practices may include the following:

Birthing pens, isolation pens, and other stalls must be thoroughly cleaned and disinfected with approved disinfectants.
Reduce the risk of disease transmission by composting manure or disposing of it correctly and in a timely manner.
Regularly empty and clean feed and water troughs and keep them at a height only accessible to the intended animals.
Maintain any pipes, taps, gutters, or roofs to ensure clean water.
Clean and disinfect equipment immediately after its use including medical equipment (e.g. trailers, shovels, tubes, bottles)
Use disposable equipment especially for medical practices (e.g. gloves, masks, needles, syringes)

This is very important to hinder the spread of NiV since one major way of transmission is through contact with an infected animal’s urine, faeces or saliva. Making sure the enclosures are cleaned regularly can ensure that NiV is not transmitted that way.

Treaties and Agreements

The key to defeating this virus is through collaboration. It would be incredibly beneficial for agreements to be made between the governments of at-risk countries regarding Nipah. These could involve establishing financial and medical aid programs as well as travelling protocols and border control in case one country is host to an outbreak. They could also explore set laws involving protecting the Flying Fox bat species and avoiding human and bat contact at all cost. These agreements and treaties should follow the OneHealth method of collaborating different fields together: veterinary sector, agriculture sector, disease control sector, etc…

Fruit Coverage and Sanitation

The established cause for many of the yearly outbreaks of Nipah in Bangladesh and India were attributed to human consumption of fruit or fruit products contaminated by the bodily fluids of the Flying Fox bat species. Having a policy enforcing certain fruit sanitation processes is the first step to making sure humans do not come into contact with contaminated fruit. However, it would also be important to have a policy enforcing fruit coverage (ex. with nets), to protect products from bat intervention. This policy is an especially crucial step to take as the widely used date palm sap is produced in the Flying Fox bat habitat and is the cause of many NiV outbreaks in Bangladesh and India.

Bat Protection Policy

We at T.A.N. urge at-risk countries to have wildlife societies and organisations officialize the protection of the Flying Fox bat species to discourage hunting. This can be an important policy to enforce, especially if misinformation is spread, causing people to villainize bats. In doing so, bat populations, which are essential to maintaining ecosystems, would be preserved and interaction between humans and zoonotic disease hosts would be reduced, allowing us to coexist without harm.