Nipah virus: One more case confirmed in Kerala, total tally at six

One more case of Nipah virus has been confirmed in Kerala in a 39yearold man in Kozhikode pushing up the number of active cases of the braindamaging virus in the State to four state health department said on FridayWith this the total tally of Nipah virus infections from the virus in Kerala has been recorded at six including two deathsAccording to the state health ministers office the 39yearold patient is under observation in a hospital in KozhikodeThe state government has strengthened measures to prevent the spread of the infectionTwo deaths from the Nipah virus in Kozhikode took place on August 30 and September 11Kerala has shut some schools and offices this week as officials raced to halt the spread of the deadly Nipah virus after two people succumbed in the fourth outbreak of the virus since the year 2018Affected gram panchayats in the Kozhikode area have been declared as quarantine zonesSamples of 15 people of those in the highrisk category in the contact list have been sent for testingThe health official earlier said that the contact list contains 950 people of which 213 are in the highrisk category A total of 287 health workers are also there in the contact listFour people in highrisk categories are currently in a private hospital and 17 people are under surveillance at the Kozhikode medical collegeUnion Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare Dr Bharati Pravin Pawar on September 14 visited the Indian Council of Medical Research National Institute of Virology ICMRNIV in Pune on Thursday and reviewed steps taken for containment of Nipah virus outbreak in KeralaA multidisciplinary team led by Dr Mala Chhabra has been deputed by Union Health Ministry to support the state in public health measures to deal with this outbreak the minister saidHighlevel teams from the Centre and ICMRNIV with mobile units equipped with BSL3 Biosafety Level 3 laboratory have reached Kozhikode and for onground testingKerala Health Minister Veena George said on September 14 a highlevel meeting of the state government was held and after the Principal Secretary had a meeting with officials of the Union GovernmentVeena George also said that the monoclonal antibody which is required for the treatment of the Nipah infection and requested from the State government from the Indian Council of Medical Research ICMR has reached Kerala on September 15The Health Minister said a fullyequipped mobile virology testing laboratory of the Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology RGCB Thiruvananthapuram has also been sent to KozhikodeRGCB Director Prof Chandrabhas Narayana said a group of six experts have been made available in the mobile unit which can give results within six hours The unit is capable of testing up to 192 samples in a dayResults generally take about six hours From our experience we can see in six hours the results can be get We should be able to give to the Centre and state governments directly They will be declaring the resultsMeanwhile the government of the neighbouring State of Karnataka has issued a circular and has advised the general public to avoid unnecessary travel to affected areas of Kerala It has also directed the official to intensify surveillance in the bordering districts to Kerala Kodagu Dakshin Kannada Chamrajanagara and Mysore and at the points of entry to KarnatakaAccording to the World Health Organisation WHO Nipah Virus is caused by fruit bats and is potentially fatal to humans as well as animals Along with respiratory illness it is also known to cause fever muscular pain headache fever dizziness and nauseaEarlier in Kerala there was a Nipah virus outbreak in the Kozhikode and Malappuram districts in 2018 and later in 2021 a case of Nipah virus was reported in KozhikodeThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever