1. United States
2. Va.
3. Letter

The silence on Nipah virus is unacceptable. This isn’t a hypothetical threat—it’s a known, deadly zoonotic disease with a case fatality rate between 40% and 75%. It has already caused outbreaks in Bangladesh, India, and Malaysia. Each time it reemerges, we see the same failures: slow surveillance, no approved treatments, no widespread vaccine development, and a shrug from global powers who prefer to wait for pandemics to hit before acting. The United States must take decisive, proactive action to prevent Nipah from becoming the next catastrophe. That means: • Fully funding pandemic preparedness with explicit inclusion of Nipah virus. • Demanding the CDC and NIH invest in accelerated vaccine and antiviral development for Nipah now—not later. • Expanding genomic surveillance and wildlife monitoring in vulnerable regions. • Pressuring global health organizations to treat Nipah with the urgency it deserves. • Passing legislation that requires real-time reporting and transparency for zoonotic spillover events. Our country is already reeling from the dismantling of pandemic infrastructure, attacks on public health officials, and politicization of basic disease control. We cannot afford to stay passive while deadly viruses with epidemic potential simmer in the background. Stop the performative “we learned our lesson” speeches. Prove it. Fight for real action. Fight for preparedness. Fight like lives depend on it—because they do.