Janjivan Bureau / NEW DELHI : The deadly brain-damaging Nipah virus has resurfaced in Kerala a year after it killed 17 people, state officials said on Tuesday.
A 23-year-old student tested positive for the virus, which is transmitted to humans through direct contact with infected bats, pigs or other people.
Kerala Health Minister K.K. Shailaja told reporters that four other people had Nipah-like symptoms. Another 80 people were being monitored, including some who were in close contact with the student.
Shailaja said isolation wards had been set up across the state, where 19 cases were reported last year.
India’s national health and wildlife ministries are working to test and identify bats with the virus, Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said in New Delhi.
“There is no need for panic,” he told reporters.
There is no vaccine for the virus which can cause encephalitis, or inflammation of the brain, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). It recommends treatment through supportive care.
Nipah is on the WHO’s research and development “priority pathogen” list alongside Ebola, Zika, MERS, Lassa and Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever.
The virus was first identified in 1999 during an outbreak of illness affecting pig farmers and others in close contact with pigs in Malaysia and Singapore.
More than 100 people died in that outbreak that year, and about a million pigs were killed to try to halt its spread.
The results of blood samples of the student, which were tested at the National Institute of Virology (NIV) in Pune, have confirmed Nipah, K.K. Shailaja said.
The result came this morning, she added.
Earlier, blood samples examined at two virology institutes–Manipal Institute of Virology and Kerala Institute of Virology and Infectious Diseases–had indicated Nipah.
Shailaja said the condition of the student, who is being treated at a private hospital here, is stable and he was not put under any support system like ventilator.
“Good care is being given to the patient. The patient sometimes become restless due to fever…We expect a good result,” she said.
The minister further said a list of 86 people who have interacted with the student has been prepared and they were under medical observation.
Out of the 86, two are suffering from fever and one has been shifted to the isolation ward set up at the Kalamassery Medical College Hospital here, she added.
Two nurses, who had initially attended to the patient, complained of sore throat and fever and they are also under observation of the health department.
The Minister urged people not to panic and take precautionary measures to prevent the spread of the disease.
“We have confidence that we can face it. We have faced it in Kozhikode last year and contained it,” she said trying to instil confidence among people.
Appealing to social media users not to spread panic among the public, she said stringent action would be taken against those indulging in such acts.
Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan has given an assurance that an anti-NiV drug developed in Australia would be provided to the state to deal with the disease, she noted.
Fruit bats of the Pteropodidae family are the natural host of the Nipah virus.
Nipah virus can be transmitted to humans from animals (such as bats or pigs), or contaminated foods and can also be transmitted directly from human-to-human.
Medical experts from Kozhikode have already reached Kochi and there were enough medicines and medical equipment to deal with the situation, she said.
A control room has been opened in Ernakulam district headquarters.
Health authorities in Thrissur had said the student, who was suffering from fever, had sought medical assistance at two private hospitals in that city when he had come to Kochi for a training programme recently as part of his course.
The infected student from Ernakulam district is studying in Thodupuzha in Idukki district.
Officials said the family and neighbours of the young man were also under observation.
On May 19, 2018, Nipah virus disease (NiV) outbreak was reported from Kozhikode in Malappuram district
As per state government figures, the Nipah virus had claimed 17 lives — 14 in Kozhikode and three in neighbouring Malappuram in May last year
According to the WHO, Nipah virus is a newly emerging disease that can be transmitted from its reservoir (natural wildlife host), the flying foxes (fruit bats), to both animals and humans.
It takes its name from Sungai Nipah, a village in Malaysia where it was first identified.
Symptoms range from asymptomatic infection, acute respiratory infection (mild, severe), and fatal encephalitis. Infected people initially develop influenza-like symptoms of fever, headache, myalgia, vomiting and sore throat.
This can be followed by dizziness, drowsiness, altered consciousness, and neurological signs that indicate acute encephalitis.
Some people can also experience atypical pneumonia and severe respiratory problems, including acute respiratory distress. Encephalitis and seizures occur in severe cases, progressing to coma within 24 to 48 hours.
