Nipah kills 2 in Kerala, two more test positive

The minister said an alert has been sounded in Kannur, Wayanad and Malappuram districts in the wake of detection of the virus in Kozhikode. Three Central teams are expected to reach Kerala on Wednesday and NIV-Pune will set up a mobile laboratory to speed up testing of samples.

A team of experts from the National Centre of Disease Control left for Kerala earlier on Tuesday to help the state government contain the spread of the infection.

George said The Animal Husbandry and Forest departments will conduct a survey about habitats of fruit bats, which is seen as a key source of the virus.

According to state health department officials, a 47-year-old man died in Kozhikode’s IQRAA Hospital on August 30. The second victim — a 40-year-old person — died at another hospital, Aster MIMS, in Kozhikode on September 11. Those under treatment are family members of the victim who died on August 30.

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan posted on Facebook: “Nipah virus infection has been confirmed in Kozhikode district. Two people died due to infections. Of the four people whose saliva was sent for testing, two were Nipah positive and two were Nipah negative.”

A team of experts from the National Centre of Disease Control left for Kerala earlier on Tuesday to help the state government contain the spread of the infection. Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya also spoke with George to take stock of the situation, officials from the Union Health Ministry said in New Delhi.

George said the two epicentres of the disease have been identified, which will soon be declared as containment zones by the district collector after following due procedure.

According to state officials, the first victim, before he was shifted to the Kozhikode hospital with symptoms of respiratory diseases on August 25, had sought treatment at three medical centres in his neighbourhood. Doctors treating him suspected that he could have been infected by Nipah after four of his relatives were admitted to Aster MIMS with similar symptoms.

These are the first cases of the deadly infection in the country since 2021, when a death was reported in Kozhikode during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The health department has so far not officially explained how the 47-year-old, believed to be the index case in the infection this time, contracted the zoonotic disease. On August 20, two days before developed minor symptoms, the person, who had recently returned from West Asia, had visited his farm at another locality.

The second victim is learnt to have visited IQRAA Hospital, where the 47-year-old was admitted, to meet a relative under treatment and the situation brought the two now-deceased victims to share the same premises for nearly an hour. He had also undergone treatment at two hospitals before being shifted to Kozhikode, a source said.

Meanwhile, the state health and panchayat departments stepped up surveillance and preventive measures at Maruthonkara and Ayancheri panchayats in Kozhikode district, where the two victims came from. A few wards in the two panchayats will be closed and a containment zone will be declared in the area, officials said.

Local panchayat and health workers have prepared lists of contacts of the victims to trace and isolate them. People in “high-risk category” have been asked to remain in isolation at home.

The two villages are located near Changaroth panchayat, which was the epicentre of Nipah outbreak in 2018.

In Kozhikode, the health department has made an isolation ward with ventilator facilities at the government medical college hospital. Besides a district-level control room, both panchayats have also set up local control rooms.

These are the first cases of the deadly infection in the country since 2021, when a death was reported in Kozhikode during the Covid-19 pandemic. There have been four outbreaks in the country since 2001, when the infection was first reported in humans in the country.

Inputs from ENS, New Delhi