Post-mortem surveillance: an innovative strategy to detect and prevent spread of Nipah virus infection in humans
Emerging Microbes & Infections·
- DOI
- 10.1080/22221751.2026.2613510
- PMID
- 41555538
- PMCID
- PMC12821353
- OpenAlex
- W7124987009
- Study type
- Journal article
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Article type
- journal-article
- Integrity
- current
Why this research matters now
The paper is relevant to surveillance and outbreak investigation because it describes a post-mortem pathway for finding fatal infections that were not evaluated before death. In the authors' framing, this approach could help prompt faster public-health response in Nipah-affected settings.
Structured evidence summary
Research question
The article asks whether post-mortem oral-swab surveillance at sentinel hospitals can identify Nipah virus infections that were not tested before death and whether this workflow can be carried out within routine hospital surveillance processes.
Study design
This is a pilot surveillance implementation study carried out at three sentinel hospitals. Deceased patients were screened, suspected cases were enrolled, and oral swabs were tested by qRT-PCR at the national reference laboratory.
Population and setting
The setting was Bangladesh, within the national sentinel surveillance system, from December 2023 to April 2024. The screened population was deceased individuals at three sentinel hospitals; 10 suspected Nipah virus cases were enrolled, and all had died after admission.
Main findings
Among 246 screened decedents, one tested positive for Nipah virus RNA, with a reported Ct value of 27.3. The positive result triggered same-day outbreak investigation, and contact testing did not identify secondary cases. The authors also report that the post-mortem workflow could be completed quickly within routine hospital operations.
Public-health relevance
The paper is relevant to surveillance and outbreak investigation because it describes a post-mortem pathway for finding fatal infections that were not evaluated before death. In the authors' framing, this approach could help prompt faster public-health response in Nipah-affected settings.
Important limitations
The abstract does not state formal study limitations. This summary is therefore limited to the supplied single-article abstract and metadata, and the original paper is needed for fuller methods, context, and decision-grade interpretation.
GIDS interpretation
For GIDS context, the article is discoverable as surveillance literature on Nipah virus and post-mortem case finding. It should be treated as a small implementation report, not as confirmation of a live surveillance signal or a population-level trend.
Related GIDS surveillance
Literature context does not validate, explain, or change a surveillance signal. Exact and contextual relationships are shown separately.
Evidence relationships
This article has 6 auditable classifier relationships to diseases, places, topics, and study design.