Indian Gov’t Rushes Expert Team To Nipah Virus-hit State
India’s Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said a team of experts had been rushed from New Delhi to the southern state of Kerala to take stock of two confirmed Nipah deaths.
The experts would also assist the state authorities in fighting the virus from spreading.
Two persons recently died due to “unnatural death” after complaining of fever in the state’s Kozhikode district.
Following the two deaths, samples were sent to a lab in Pune, a city in the southwestern state of Maharashtra, which confirmed the presence of Nipah virus.
Kerala Health Minister Veena George stated that steps to arrange medicines like monoclonal antibodies for treating the infected were progressing and that the district administration would initiate containment measures.
At least four persons suffering from Nipah virus were said to be under medical treatment in a government hospital.
Health department officials were closely monitoring the situation and a 75-member primary contact list of suspected Nipah virus had been prepared.
As a precautionary measure, an alert was sounded and containment zones were announced in the districts of Kozhikode, Kannur, Wayanad, and Malappuram.
Kozhikode is the same area that witnessed a Nipah outbreak in the year 2018 with 21 deaths out of 23 cases, and thereafter one such death was reported in 2021.
The Nipah virus, a highly pathogenic Paramyxovirus, is one of the 10 priority pathogens identified by the World Health Organisation (WHO).
It causes a range of illnesses, from asymptomatic infection to acute respiratory illness and fatal encephalitis, among the infected people, according to a report by the online edition of the Deccan Herald newspaper.
According to the WHO, Nipah virus infection is a zoonotic illness that is transmitted to people from animals, and it can also be transmitted through contaminated food or from one person to another.
