Nipah is one of the pathogens that Moderna has identified as the targets of its global public health strategy, an initiative aimed at developing vaccines for 15 infectious diseases that pose the biggest public health risk worldwide.
The virus – usually contracted through contact with fruit bats – first cause a documented outbreak in Malaysia and Singapore in 1998, with 265 cases that led to 105 deaths among humans as well as the near collapse of a billion-dollar pig-farming industry due to culling.
