The NV-98 Pandemic (also known as the Nipah Virus Pandemic), caused by the eponymous Nipah Virus, began with an outbreak in Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia, in September 1998. It spread to other areas of Asia, and then worldwide in early 1999 via tourists and international businesses in the country. The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the outbreak a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC) on March 30, 1999, and assessed the outbreak had become a pandemic on May 17.
The symptoms of the Nipah Virus are variable but generally include fever, headache, muscle pain, vomiting, sore throat, acute encephalitis, atypical pneumonia, severe respiratory distress, and seizures. Symptoms may begin 4 to 14 days after exposure to the virus and at least 1 out of 5 people who are infected do not develop noticeable symptoms. Transmission occurs by bodily fluids like saliva, fecal matter, urine, or blood, as well as by eating contaminated food from infected animals.
The WHO ended the PHEIC for NV-98 on March 11th, 2001. The disease has continued to circulate, but as of 2024, most experts has said it stopped a pandemic. Pandemics and their ends are not well-defined, and whether or not one has ended differs according to the definition used. As of 17 August 2001, NV-98 has caused 18.5 Million confirmed deaths. The NV-98 pandemic ranks as the fifth-deadliest pandemic or epidemic in history.
History[]
1998[]
The virus firstly struck pig-farms in the suburb of Ipoh in Perak with the occurrence of respiratory illness and encephalitis among the pigs. It was initially believed to have been caused by Japanese encephalitis (JE), due to four serum samples from 28 infected humans in the area which tested positive for JE-specific Immunoglobulin M. Infected pigs were transported throughout the city and lead to the first non-native transmissions.
When the CDC was informed of a disease outbreak in Malaysia, they initially though it was JE-specific Immunoglobulin M (IgM), they began early control measures such as mosquito foggings and vaccination of pigs against JE were deployed to the affected area. Their control measures were not working and the virus's symptoms began appearing around Malaysia and to people who recently visited the nation for vacation.
As the CDC attempts to identify the disease, symptoms began appearing in nearby East Asian nations like Indonesia, Siam, Indochina, and more. By December, there was over 587,923 suspected cases around East Asia for this unknown disease.
1999[]

A temporary hospital for NV-98 patients in Wuhan, China
On 11 January, WHO was notified by the Chinese National Health Commission that the outbreak was associated with exposures in the market, and that China had identified a new type of virus, which it isolated on January 9. Initially, the number of cases doubled approximately every seven and a half days in China alone. In early and mid-January, the virus spread to other Chinese provinces, helped by the Chinese New Year migration. Wuhan was a transport hub and major rail interchange, leading to the virus spreading there and across china. On 10 January, the virus' genome was shared publicly. A retrospective study published in March found that 6,174 people had reported symptoms by 20 January in the Republic of China alone. A 24 January report indicated human transmission was likely occurring, and recommended personal protective equipment for health workers. It also advocated testing, given the outbreak's "pandemic potential". On 31 January, the first published modelling study warned of inevitable "independent self-sustaining outbreaks in major cities globally" and called for "large-scale public health interventions.
In March, the first European cases were reported from Chinese tourists in France. Due to France having the largest number of tourists, large amounts of tourists were presumably infected across Europe and up to Africa and America. The disease was discovered to be a Virus and was officially named the Nipah Virus, the name taken from the investigation area name of Nipah River Village (Malay: Kampung Sungai Nipah) where the outbreak began.

A notice poster on May 18th for the closure of all San Francisco School due to the Nipah Virus
Cases from Italy and Spain were reported on March 25, followed by Germany and the UK in early April. The CDC gave out a public statement for a quarantine of infected individuals and closing down travel areas in an attempt to decrease the spread of the virus. On May 4, the MS Osaka, docked in San Francisco, had 2 crew members hospitalized, followed by several more crew and passengers. Reports from California indicated that the Virus was spread from Japan to the US West Coast from an infected individual, with around 76 people to be estimated infected. Due to this, WHO declared it a pandemic on May 17, with governments enacting quarantines across over 35 countries and hundreds of jobs and schools closed down.
The Soviet Union and France began enacting strict Quarantine measures, closing down their borders and leading to an estimated 2.5 million people stuck in their nations. Australasia also began strict measures, either quarantining or expelling tourists from affected countries and closing down major cities to stop the virus from spreading to their nation. US President Bob Dole declared an national emergency and built several quarantine centers and approved the creation of a vaccine, but the project slowed down as more people were at risk from the virus.
2000[]
2001[]
Impact[]
Political[]
During the pandemic, government responses caused a large amount of government upheavals and changes.

Tanks in Moscow during the 1999 coup
One of the first was the USSR in late 1999, which fell into a coup by Gennady Yanayev and its collapse two years later. Most political researchers saw that the Pandemic stretched government resources thin as trade and tourism were shut down, leading to riots and protests in major cities and violent put downs as quarantines went on longer. Due to this, political shifts and Gorbachev's failed reforms led to Yanayev and other hardliners removing him from power and violently putting down protests to avoid the USSR falling. During 2000 and 2001 however, massive amounts of protests and further collapse led to the USSR collapsing in late 2001
In the US, Bob Dole's slow vaccine progress and further spread led to a massive political shift in swing states such as Florida. This shift caused Al Gore to run for President for 2000, and made his win the election. His victory was seen by many in the nation as a miracle, as his vaccine policies led in part to the end of the pandemic.