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Indian state Kerala on alert after Nipah virus deaths

14-09-2023

Bureau Report + Agencies

NEW DELHI: The southern Indian state of Kerala has issued an alert after it confirmed that two people have died from the rare Nipah virus.

One of the deaths occurred earlier this month while the other took place on 30 August, both in the state’s Kozhikode district, officials said.

Two relatives of a victim have also tested positive for the virus and are being treated in hospital.

This is the fourth Nipah outbreak in Kerala since 2018.

The Nipah virus infection is a “zoonotic illness” transmitted from animals like pigs and fruit bats to humans, according to the World Health Organization.

It can also be transmitted through contaminated food and through contact with an infected person.

People who contract the virus sometimes show no noticeable symptoms, while others show signs of acute respiratory problems. In severe cases, a Nipah infection can result in foetal encephalitis – a serious condition that affects the brain.

The mortality rate among those who contract the virus is high as there is no medicine or vaccine available to treat the infection. Treatment is limited to managing symptoms and supportive care.

India’s Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Tuesday said the federal government had dispatched a team to experts to Kerala to assess the situation and assist the state government in managing the outbreak.

The state’s Health Minister Veena George said on Wednesday that tests had shown that the virus strain in the current outbreak was the same as the one found in Bangladesh earlier.

She also said that teams from the National Institute of Virology in the western city of Pune would set up a mobile lab at Kozhikode Medical College to test for the virus and carry out surveys on bats.

George has said that 168 contacts of the two people who died have been identified and are being tested for the virus.

The state government has set up a control room in Kozhikode to monitor the situation and health workers have been instructed to follow infection control protocols.

Seven villages in Kozhikode have been declared containment zones and authorities have shut some schools and offices in the district, media reported.

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