Nipah virus disease is a zoonotic disease of public health importance mainly in countries of South East Asia and the Western Pacific, where Pteropus fruit bats, the natural host of the virus, are widespread. Without detection and control, the disease can quickly claim lives considering its high case fatality rate of 40% to 75%, and because there is as yet neither a vaccine nor treatment. In 2018, the World Health Organization listed Nipah virus (NiV) as one of the ten most important microbes to monitor and to prepare countermeasures to prevent a pandemic.

This downloadable toolkit covers nine ways for journalists to cover the Nipah virus story: