Mystery then, worry now: 2001 docs recall India’s first outbreak
Times of India | 15 January 2026
Kolkata: Back in 2001, when Nipah virus had struck Bengal, not too many, apart from the medical community, had heard about this lethal infection. This was India's first record of Nipah outbreak, a "mysterious fever" which took Siliguri by storm. Despite the disease being unknown and the fear of its outcome, a team of doctors from Kolkata, along with their colleagues, embarked on a journey to fight it.
Around 66 were infected in the outbreak between Jan and Feb 2001, and at least 45 of them died. Months later, the infection was detected as one caused by the Nipah virus. "A special compartment on Uttar Banga Express was reserved for the medical team from my college to travel to Siliguri, where we attended to patients, admitted to North Bengal Medical College and Hospital (NBMCH). I did not tell my parents as they would be scared. It was like the Army leaving for the battleground," recalled nephrologist Pratik Das of RN Tagore International Institute of Cardiac Sciences, who was then a clinical tutor at RG Kar.
The index patient, the first one to come with symptoms, died in a Siliguri nursing home. Soon after, the govt initiated isolation wards at NBMCH and directed all symptomatic patients to the state facility. "We carried 12 ventilators and medications with us. Of course, there was fear because of the unknown disease. But it was a call of duty for doctors. If we did not tend to patients, who would?" said M K Roy, then an assistant professor at RG Kar.
Most of the deaths from the Nipah virus occurred among healthcare workers, including doctors—one of them was the first to examine the first suspect at the Siliguri nursing home—nurses, ambulance drivers and even liftmen. "It was a disastrous outbreak with a high mortality rate. The situation was grim, we were groping in the dark as we did not know what was causing the infection. We tried our best to save the patients and contain the spread. The situation was far more serious than what the present outbreak is," said neurologist Trishit Roy, former director of Bangur Institute of Neurology, who was deputed, along with virologist S Chakraborty, from School of Tropical Medicine, Kolkata, as special investigators.
"My son, who was about to appear for his Class XII boards, broke down as I was leaving with 12 colleagues. With so many deaths around, with most being healthcare workers, our colleagues at NBMCH were demoralised. But it was our duty to step in," said Gautam Mukherjee, who was then the senior medical officer at RG Kar.
Led by then medicine HOD Apubra Ghosh, the team included doctors Bhaskar Bose and Nitai Das. With the govt providing all protective gear, none from the team contracted the infection.
Later, teams from AIIMS Delhi and NIV Pune joined in to collect samples and coordinate with the state medical team. The state kept sending various medical teams from medical colleges in Kolkata until the outbreak died out.