Nipah alert issued in Kerala’s Kozhikode after 2 ‘unnatural’ deaths
Kerala,Sept 12 : The Kerala Health Department issued an alert after two “unnatural deaths” were reported due to fever in Kozhikode. Health officials suspect that the Nipah virus infection may be the cause of these deaths.
These two deaths occurred at a private hospital in Kozhikode. A total of four patients including three children are undergoing treatment in a hospital. A 22-year-old relative of one of the dead persons is currently in the intensive care unit of a hospital. Also, two children aged, 4, 9 years and a 10-month-old infant are under treatment in a private hospital.
Samples of the patients have been sent to the National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune. Result will be out by Tuesday evening and Nipah virus infection can be confirmed after that only.
A high-level meeting was chaired by state health minister Veena George to review the situation.
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Kozhikode has experienced two previous Nipah virus outbreaks, one in 2018 and another in 2021. During the first outbreak in 2018, a total of 23 cases were identified, with 17 people succumbing to this zoonotic virus.
Nipah virus infection can manifest in various ways, ranging from asymptomatic (subclinical) cases to acute respiratory illness and fatal encephalitis among those infected.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), Nipah virus infection is a zoonotic illness that is transmitted to people from animals and can also be transmitted through contaminated food or directly from person-to-person.
The virus can also cause severe disease in animals such as pigs, resulting in significant economic losses for farmers, WHO said.
-PTI
