2 Die of Nipah Virus in Kerala, 7 GPs Containment Zone, Schools Offices Closed

Thiruvananthapuram: Two people died from Nipah virus infection in Kerala’s Kozhikode district. Samples from four other suspected cases were found positive.

The Kerala government on Wednesday announced that seven village panchayats in Kerala’s Kozhikode, where two people died due to the Nipah virus, were declared as containment zones.

Schools and offices were closed down in the affected areas.

Union health minister Mansukh Mandaviya confirmed the two deaths as caused by Nipah. The Centre sent a team of health experts to Kerala to assist the state in containing the infection.

The Nipah virus has shown up in Kerala for the third time. There were Nipah outbreaks in Kerala in 2018 and 2021. In 2018, there were 23 cases and a single case in 2021. In 2018, a total of 21 persons died in Kerala of the Nipah virus.

Nipah infection has a fatality rate of 50 per cent to 90 per cent. However it can be contained through the isolation of patients and their contacts and other precautions.

The Kerala government set up a control room in Kozhikode and advised people to use masks as a precautionary measure.

Person-to-person spread of the Nipah virus requires touch or close contact with infected persons through nasal or respiratory droplets, urine, or blood.

Viral genome analysis from the solitary case in 2021 revealed that the virus had been circulating locally in Kerala’s bat population. It was suspected that one possible route of entry might open up when a person consumes a fruit contaminated with bat saliva.