Nipah and mpox expose Asia’s urgent need for stronger disease surveillance

In a year already brimming with threats of war and unrest, 2026 has brought some health scares for Asia. In January, two cases of the deadly Nipah virus emerged among healthcare workers, both nurses, in West Bengal, India. One of the two nurses has since died.The Nipah virus has one of the highest fatality rates of any known viral disease, typically ranging from 40 to 75 per cent, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Since 1998, when the first outbreak of the disease was recorded in Malaysia, periodic outbreaks have been recorded almost every year in Bangladesh and India. The dreaded zoonotic disease is transmitted to humans through food contaminated by the excreta or saliva of an infected animal, primarily fruit bats or flying foxes, the natural hosts for the virus. It can be transmitted from person to person through close contact with someone who is infected. There is no known cure.The recent cases triggered airport screening across Asia and placed health authorities on heightened alert. It raised fears of another pandemic and rekindled the unsettling memories of COVID-19 lockdowns.Nipah is not the only virus to make its presence felt this year. On January 13, the WHO said that a case of Mpox in India was caused by a “recombinant strain”, meaning the virus contains genetic material from two different versions of Mpox, known as clade Ib and clade IIb.The recombinant strain is being monitored. While there is no evidence yet that the new strain is significantly more contagious than the already existing variants, it does come as a clarion call to Asia to not just strengthen its disease surveillance across the region, but to invest in a more coordinated response to any health crisis, something that has been on the WHO Southeast Asia region’s agenda since last year.Experts warn that now more than ever, robust disease surveillance even before an outbreak is essential. Even a small lapse could push the region towards another public health crisis.