In late 1998, it got it. The virus arrived in central Malaysia by air, inside furry bats that alighted on the boughs of fruit trees swaying over pig farms. The bats, messy eaters, dropped their half-consumed meals. The swine, undiscerning eaters, gobbled up the leftovers. The virus, ready to move, hopped into the pigs and passed through their coughs to the humans who worked with them.

And within eight months, 105 Malaysians — about 40 percent of those infected — had died of this novel virus, dubbed Nipah, after suffering through fevers, brain inflammation and comas.

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