Even as the death of 11 persons due to Nipah virus in Kerala has triggered a panic across the country, including Visakhapatnam, the authorities have claimed that the citizens have nothing to worry about as the prevailing high temperature here is detrimental to the virus.
Fruit bat (Indian Flying Fox) acts as a vector for the virus that spreads through the bird’s saliva when it pecks at fruits. “There is no cause for worry for the tropical areas like Visakhapatnam city as the virus does not thrive for long in high temperature conditions. Simple precautions such as washing fruits thoroughly in salt water or potassium permanganate solution can prevent the spread of the disease,” says Divisional Forest Officer B. Vijay Kumar, who is the DFO of Social Forestry in Guntur at present.
Natural habitat
Giving details about the habitat of the birds in the city, he says there was a considerable population of the species at the Old Jail Complex, opposite the LIC building until a few years ago. But, their numbers has dwindled following the axing of the old trees, paving way for construction of the VUDA Central Park.
Deforestation blamed
Meanwhile, the environmental activists blamed the spread of the virus to large scale deforestation. “The Indian Flying Fox (mega chiroptera) is large in size and feeds on fruits while the insect bats (micro chiroptera) are small in size and feed on insects and mosquitoes. Usually, bats are found away from human habitations. The fruit bats can be seen at Simhachalam, the areas near the city zoo and Paradesipalem,” said Murthy Kantimahanti, a conservation biologist of Eastern Ghats Wildlife Society.
“The loss of greenery during the Hudhud cyclone and axing of trees have resulted in the destruction of the natural habitat of bats, forcing them to frequent human habitations,” he explained. “Fruits in the wild are also being consumed either by tribal people or sold through by government agencies, forcing fruit bats to venture into urban areas for food and spreading of the virus are one of the many repercussions,” he said. “The immunity is high in wildlife fauna. Human immunity is comparatively lower, making the people with lower immunity vulnerable to infection,” Mr. Vijay Kumar said.
