Central team to help Kerala probe Nipah death, provide technical aid
Health ministry says a mobile BSL-3 laboratory for testing samples from patient contacts has reached Kozhikode
The Centre will deploy a multi-member joint outbreak response team to support Kerala in investigating a Nipah virus case detected in Mallapuram district. The central team will identify epidemiological linkages and provide technical assistance.
In a statement on Sunday (July 21), the Union Health Ministry said a 14-year-old boy from the district exhibited the acute encephalitis syndrome and was admitted to a healthcare facility in Perinthalmanna before being transferred to a higher health centre in Kozhikode.
He succumbed to the disease and samples were sent to the Pune-based National Institute of Virology, which confirmed Nipah virus infection, it said.
Immediate measures
The ministry has advised the state to immediately implement public health measures such as active case search in the boy’s family and his neighbourhood, and in areas with similar topography of the place the case was detected.
Kerala has also been advised to start tracing people who have come in contact with the patient in the past 12 days and implement strict quarantine for them, and isolation for suspects. The ministry said a mobile BSL-3 laboratory for testing samples from patient contacts has reached Kozhikode.
The multi-member joint outbreak response team from the One Health mission of the health ministry will be deployed to support the state in investigating the case, identifying epidemiological linkages, and providing technical assistance, the statement said.
Antibodies could not be used
In addition, at the state’s request, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) had sent monoclonal antibodies for patient management but it could not be used because of the boy’s “poor general condition”, according to the ministry.
Fruit bats are the usual reservoirs of the virus, and humans can become infected by accidentally consuming bat-contaminated fruits.
Outbreaks of the Nipah Virus Disease (NiVD) have been reported in Kerala in the past, with the last occurring in 2023 in Kozhikode district, the statement said.
(With agency inputs)
