A vaccine against Nipah virus has been put to test by researchers in monkeys and it was in 1998 at the time when a massive outbreak of infection happened in pigs and pig farmers in Southeast Asia that made the human pathogen emerge.

There has been some work done by scientists and on this the recent advance is built. The earlier work states that the same vaccine can protect cats from Nipah virus and ferrets and horses from the closely related Hendra virus.

When it comes to humans, there is a high fatality rate caused by both viruses, making it more than 75 per cent for Nipah and 60 per cent for Hendra.

Lungs and brain are targeted by infections by these viruses and it has been seen in the last 10 years that disease outbreaks have occurred regularly.

Countries where Nipah outbreaks have occurred are Malaysia, Singapore, Bangladesh and India. While for Hendra, it had first emerged in OZ in humans and horses in 1994 and has confined itself to OZ only.

The vaccine was developed by Dr Christopher Broder of the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, and Dr Katharine Bossart, a former graduate student of the university now at Boston University.