Nipah resurfaces in Kerala, Centre rushes team of 6

Kochi: The deadly Nipah virus has resurfaced in Kerala with a 23-year-old male college student confirmed to have this brain damaging disease, a year after it killed 17 people in the state.

The state government while confirming the first case of Nipah virus infection in Kerala this year said Tuesday four people—three who attended to the student initially and a co-student — were suffering from fever and sore throat and hence shifted to the isolation ward at the Kalamassery Medical College Hospital in Kochi for a detailed medical examination.

In all, 311 people from various districts with whom the student from Ernakulam district had interacted were under observation, it said. The results of the blood samples of the 23-year-old student, which were tested at the National Institute of Virology in Pune, have confirmed Nipah, state health minister K.K. Shailaja told reporters in Kochi.

The result came this morning, she added.  Earlier, blood samples examined at two virology institutes—Manipal Institute of Virology and Kerala Institute of Virology and Infectious Diseases—indicated Nipah, which is transmitted to humans through direct contact with infected bats, pigs or other people.

The Centre on Tuesday rushed a six-member team to Kerala after a college student was confirmed to be infected with the potentially deadly Nipah virus, which had claimed 17 lives in the state in May last year.

Union health minister Harsh Vardhan also spoke to the state health minister K.K. Shailaja to discuss the situation and assured all support from the Centre to the state.

The six-member team comprises an epidemiologist that has been sent to conduct contact tracing for early detection of suspects and review of isolation facilities.