Death toll from Nipah virus rises to 16 in Kerala

Sixteen persons have lost their lives to the Nipah virus in Kerala, with one more person succumbing to it on Thursday.

Twentyfive-year-old Resin, who was under treatment at the Kozhikode Medical college hospital, died on Thursday, official sources said.

Health department sources said 18 persons have tested positive for the Nipah virus so far, of whom 16 have died.

Two are undergoing treatment. According to the sources, the number of samples tested for Nipah virus is 196 of which 178 have tested negative.

The virus had claimed two lives on Wednesday.

In Kolkata, a 28-year-old soldier from Kerala, who was posted at Fort William, Kolkata, died of suspected Nipah virus last week.

He was admitted to the command hospital on May 20, where he died five days later, a Defence spokesperson had said on Wednesday.

His samples have been sent for testing at the National Virology Institute at Pune and the results are awaited.

Over 1300 people, who had come in contact with the affected persons before the confirmation of the virus, are under observation.

Three fruit-eating bats, their faecal and urine samples have been sent for testing at the National Institute of High Security Animal Diseases in Bhopal on Thursday, official sources said.

Earlier, samples of three insectivorous bats caught from an unused well of the Moosa family in Kozhikode, which lost three members to the Nipah virus, were sent to the Bhopal laboratory along with samples of pigs, goats and cattle in a five km radius of the affected area and all of them tested negative, the sources said.

The natural host of the virus is believed to be fruit bats of the Pteropodidae family, Pteropus genus.