Vienna, Austria--Scientists have made a discovery about the basic biology of the Nipah virus, which suggests that cheap, existing drugs for high blood pressure and malaria may help fight the disease. Nipah regularly strikes in rural Bangladesh and neighboring parts of India. The new insights about the deadly pathogen, announced here on 14 February at the International Meeting on Emerging Infectious Diseases and Surveillance, could lead to the first human drug studies within a year, scientists say. Nipah, which belongs to the Paramyxoviridae family and causes encephalitis, was discovered during an outbreak in 1998 and 1999 in Malaysia and Singapore...