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In Nipah virus-hit Kerala, two healthcare workers being kept under observation have developed what are thought to be symptoms of the infection and have been admitted into the special ward at the Government Medical College in Kozhikode city. Twenty other ‘high-risk’ contacts are in the same ward.
A 12-year-old boy died of the virus on Sunday morning, after the Pune virology lab confirmed the infection late on Saturday night. The boy had been admitted to four hospitals, including the Medical College, and was on ventilator for the past few days, the State Health Department said on Sunday.
The Nipah virus has worsened the public health scenario already ravaged by Covid-19 in the district.
Source not yet identified
The Health Department is trying to identify the source of the infection. Unlike Covid, Nipah virus spreads only through close/physical contact. An alert has been sounded in the neighbouring Malappuram district, which is as equally Covid-burdened as Kozhikode, as also Kannur to further north, sources said.
It is the third time in the last four years that the Nipah virus has struck Kerala. Health Minister Veena George said that a list of 188 people who are thought to have been come into contact with the 12-year-old boy, has been drawn up. Of them, as many as 156 are healthcare workers, she added.
188 persons in contact list
At least 100 of these healthcare workers belong to the Medial College where the boy was treated while 36 others belong to the private hospital where he was treated last. According to the minister, a primary contact list of 20 people too is ready. Parents of the deceased are in isolation at a relative’s house.
A containment zone has been declared around a three km radius of the place where the victim’s family lived in interior Kozhikode. The Health Department is also probing the circumstances of recent deaths within the family and around their locality, including any previous virus infections reported.
Medicines to arrive
To help with the background check and other probes, the Health Department has formed 16 core committees with a specific mandate to each. Indian Council of Medical Research has assured that the required medicine for treatment will be made available from Australia.
The Health Minister also said that a sample screening facility will be set up the Government Medical College, Kozhikode, under the auspices of the National Institute of Virology, Pune. This will help with expedited testing of samples of those persons under observation for symptoms.
When the virus struck the state in 2018 in the same district of Kozhikode, 23 persons had been identified with infection. Only two had survived from the deadly disease. In 2019, the virus made a fleeting presence in Ernakulam district, but the lone case of infection survived.
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