Pakistan, Jan. 28 -- The alarm bells are ringing again. Indian authorities in West Bengal are racing to contain a Nipah cluster that has already reached healthcare workers, while roughly a hundred contacts have been placed under quarantine.

Nipah is not Covid-19, and pretending otherwise is part of the problem. The virus does not spread with the same ease through casual, everyday proximity. Outbreaks are typically sparked by a zoonotic jump - most often from fruit bats, sometimes via intermediary animals or contaminated food - and then amplified through close contact, including in caregiving settings when infection control measures falter. Yet what makes Nipah frightening is not its reach but its consequences. The World Health Organisati...