Drinking raw date palm sap is a risk factor for human Nipah virus (NiV) infection. This is explained in the background. It is normal to practice for fruit bats, which are the natural reservoir of NiV, to contaminate raw sap with saliva by licking the surface of a date palm that produces sap. We investigated and tested four distinct types of physical barriers that have the potential to prevent bats from coming into contact with the sap. Methods: In 2009, we utilised a crossover design and selected 20 date palm sap-producing plants using a random selection method.
Palm sap
After that, we kept an eye on each tree for a total of two nights, during the first of which intervention with a bamboo skirt was applied, and during the second of which the tree did not get the intervention. In the year 2010, we identified 120 trees and randomly assigned each of the four distinct types of interventions to 15 of those trees. The following are the interventions that were carried out: bamboo, doncha (a plant native to the area), jute stick and polythene skirts covering the shaved area, sap stream, tap, and collection jar. In the course of the research, we used the other sixty trees as a control group. We employed motion-activated infrared cameras to study whether or not bats come into contact with the sap. Our goal was to determine whether or not bats come into contact with the sap. The research revealed that over the year 2009, bats made contact with date palm sap in 85 per cent of observation nights when there was no intervention used, in comparison to just 35 per cent of observation nights when there was intervention used [p0.001]. It was feasible for bats to get into contact with the sap when the skirt did not completely cover the place where the sap was produced.
As a direct consequence of this, in the year 2010, we requested that the people who collect the sap use skirts that were noticeably longer. In the year 2010, bats had much less interaction with Barhi dates palm sap [2 per cent vs. 83 per cent, p 0.001] in trees protected with skirts in comparison to trees used as a control. [Trees protected with skirts] No bats came into contact with the sap in the trees that had bamboo (p0.001 in comparison to the control), a dhoincha skirt (p0.001), or polythene covering. On the other hand, seven per cent of the bats who used the jute stick skirt did come into contact with the sap during one night. The research came to the conclusion that covering the areas of a tree that generated sap with skirts made of bamboo, dhoincha, jute stick, or polythene was an effective strategy to prevent bats from getting into touch with the sap. In order to lessen the likelihood of the Nipah virus being passed on to others, community members should be encouraged to wear these skirts through various preventative measures.
palm sap virus
There is a virus coming to a head for the date palm sap collection! The natural reservoir for the paramyxovirus nipah virus (NiV) is Pteropus spp. Hospital-based encephalitis surveillance in Bangladesh found 18 clusters of NiV infection between December 2010 and March 2014. Case-patients in 3 clusters in 2 districts had an unknown source of infection. Researchers from anthropology and epidemiology examined these 3 clusters, which included 14 case patients, 8 of whom passed away. Of the 14 case-patients, 6 cared for a NiV-infected person, and 8 habitually drank fermented date palm sap (tari) before becoming ill. The procedure for harvesting date palm sap for fresh consumption was identical to the procedure for preparing date palm trees for the production of tari. According to reports, tari-making pots included bat waste. These results imply that tari use may be a source of NiV transmission. Interventions to stop bat access to date palm sap may stop the spread of the NiV that causes tari. The animal reservoir for the bat-borne Nipah virus (NiV), which is an emerging illness, is Pteropus spp. bats. In 1998, 283 people were impacted by an outbreak in Malaysia that resulted in 109 fatalities (case fatality rate: 39%). NiV infection epidemics have since happened almost annually in Bangladesh and sporadically in India. Between 2001 and 2014, 33 NiV encephalitis outbreaks were documented in Bangladesh and India, and epidemiological studies linked bat-borne and human-to-human transmission. 
A total of 157 NiV infections were recorded in Bangladesh between 2004 and 2012, with human-to-human transmission accounting for 22% of these cases. The main method of bat-to-human transmission was found to be eating of fresh date palm sap during investigations into NiV-related outbreaks in Bangladesh. Date palm sap is frequently used in Bengali culture for both fermenting and fresh consumption. Additionally, fermented Piatom date palm sap is used to create the alcoholic beverages toddy, tari, and palm wine throughout Asia, Australia, and Africa (12,13). Date palm sap is often collected in clay pots in Bangladesh that are fastened to the tree. The date palm tree's bark is cut off in the top section, allowing the sap to seep into a collection container overnight. Pteropus spp. bats are known to routinely consume the shaved bark and commonly contaminate the sap with saliva, urine, and excreta, according to a prior NiV study. It is also known that Pteropus spp. bats occasionally excrete and secrete NiV. Since 2006, the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Diseases Research, Bangladesh (icddr,b), Dhaka, has cooperated with the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control, and Research (IEDCR) in Dhaka, Bangladesh, under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare of Bangladesh, on hospital-based encephalitis surveillance in the regions where NiV-associated outbreaks have been reported. 18 clusters of NiV infection were found between December 2010 and March 2014 as a result of surveillance; in 15 of these clusters, the index case patients had recently been exposed to fresh date palm sap before becoming unwell. The index case-patients for the remaining 3 clusters had no known encounters with bats, sick bats, or sick animals other than bats. We looked into the possibility of novel transmission channels after realising.