Indian nurse infected with Nipah virus dies

BHUBANESWAR, Feb 13 (Reuters): An Indian health worker who contracted the deadly Nipah virus in December has died, a senior health official from the eastern state of West Bengal said on Thursday.

The woman - a nurse - was one of two people in the state who were infected and was being treated at a local hospital, Reuters reported last month.

"The woman ... who was critical, died due to cardiac arrest," Health Secretary Narayan Swaroop Nigam told.

Commonly spread to humans from infected bats or fruit contaminated by them, the Nipah virus can cause fever and brain inflammation and has a fatality rate of between 40 per cent and 75 per cent.

India regularly reports sporadic infections, with its southern state of Kerala also regarded as one of the world's highest-risk regions for the virus.