Kerala’s second Nipah death of the year confirmed — a 24-year-old from Malappuram

In July, a 14-year-old boy from Malappuram district had died after he tested positive for the deadly virus. Strict containment measures were then imposed in the district, and no other infections were reported until now.

The Health Minister said all necessary steps have been initiated as per protocol.

“Soon after the PCR test held in Kozhikode turned positive, an emergency meeting of the officials of the Health Department was held on Sunday night itself. We had also formed 16 committees as per protocol. The youth was a student in Bengaluru and his primary contact list runs to 151,” she said.

The minister said the victim had sought treatment in four private hospitals before he died on September 9, and had also travelled to various places along with friends. “Persons in the high-risk category have been told to remain in isolation and samples of five persons, who developed primary symptoms, have been sent for tests. Contact tracing is in the final stage. Steps have been taken to ascertain whether anyone else got infected with the virus and arrest an outbreak,’’ she said.

The victim was from Malappuram’s Thiruvali panchayat, which is around 20 km by road from Pandikkad, where the 14-year-old died in July this year.

Kerala has had five Nipah outbreaks since 2018. Till now, only six positive patients have survived — one in Kozhikode in 2018, another in Kochi in 2019, and four cases in Kozhikode in 2023. In 2018, 17 out of 18 infected persons died. In 2021, there was one Nipah death, and in 2023, there were two. With two deaths so far in 2024, the total number of Nipah death in Kerala since 2018 has gone to 22.

Fruit bats are known as the reservoir of the virus, and all the outbreaks in Kerala had been reported during the May-September period – the rainy season.