Queensland to send experimental drug to India in aid against outbreak of deadly Nipah virus

WORLD EXCLUSIVE: Queensland is urgently sending vials of an experimental Hendra Virus treatment to India to aid its battle against a deadly outbreak of a bat-borne virus that has no vaccine.

Queensland is urgently sending vials of a homegrown experimental Hendra Virus treatment to India to aid its battle against a deadly outbreak of a bat-borne illness that has forced authorities to restrict public movement.

Authorities in the southern Indian state of Kerala have been forced to shut some schools, offices, and public transport amid an outbreak of the rare and deadly Nipah virus.

Two people have already died in the latest outbreak of Nipah virus — which has no vaccine and a fatality rate of up to 75 per cent according to the World Health Organisation.

Nipah virus is considered one of the deadliest infectious diseases in the world and can cause fatal swelling in the brain, with the first outbreak in Kerala in 2018 killing 21 of the 23 infected.

Health workers wearing protective gear shift people who have been in contact with a person infected with the Nipah virus to an isolation centre at a government hospital in Kozikode, in India's Kerala state. (Photo by AFP)

But an experimental treatment developed in the aftermath of Queensland’s 1994 Hendra virus outbreak could help people infected with Nipah, as the two viruses are closely related.

Queensland Health is the only authority in the world which hold stockpiles of the monoclonal antibodies which had been found to have the potential to prevent disease in people exposed to Hendra virus.

Chief health officer Dr John Gerrard confirmed 20 frozen antibodies will be flown to India under strict biosecurity conditions.

It comes after Queensland Health received a formal request from the Indian government for the treatments to help it respond to the unfolding medical crisis.

It’s understood the Indian government was directed to approach Queensland by United States counterparts which had a hand in helping develop the treatment after the 1994 Hendra virus outbreak.

“We are very keen to help any way we can. Nipah is a devastating infection with an extremely high mortality,” Dr Gerrard said.

“Thanks to the support of the University of Queensland, the Uniformed Services University of the Health Services, and the National Institutes of Health (US), we are in the fortunate position of being able to donate some of these treatments while keeping some stock on hand for our own use.”

Queensland Chief Health Officer Dr John Gerrard. Picture: Jerad Williams

The treatment is not a vaccine, has to be administered within a short time after exposure to virus, and acts by mimicking the antibodies the body would produce naturally to fight the virus.

Health Minister Shannon Fentiman said Nipah virus had the capacity to devastate communities and if Queensland’s contribution was able to help “even a small amount” it would “go a long way”.

Common symptoms of Nipah virus include fever, headache, muscle pain, vomiting and sore throat.

Nipah virus has never been detected in Australia.

A total of seven people have ever been infected with Hendra virus in Australia — all of them in Queensland — with four eventually dying.