Nipah VIrus Outbreak Confirmed In Kerala
A 23-year-old man who was admitted in a private hospital in Kerala's Ernakulam has been tested positive for the deadly Nipah virus. The man who has been infected studied in a college in Thodupuzha in Idukki and had stayed in Thrissur recently. Thrissur district medical officer has said that the student was in Thrissur only for four days and had been suffering from fever. Health officials have started inspecting all the areas where the student visited over the last few days. Four more people, including two nurses have also contracted fever. Two of them had come in contact with the 23-year-old man. Over 80 people, among them 22 students, have been put under surveillance. Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said he is in touch with Kerala Health Minister KK Shailaja. "The centre will send monoclonal antibody (medicines) to Kerala. Everything that needs to be done in a scientific manner has been initiated. Nothing to panic” said the union minister. He said the wildlife department has been told to catch bats to test presence of the virus. The medicine, sourced from Australia after the Nipah outbreak last year, is available only with the National Institute of Virology. It was used as a preventive medicine for people who were exposed to the Hendra virus in Australia, which mainly infects large fruit bats and can be passed on to livestock and people.
