1 more Nipah case found in Kerala, govt to ramp up testing

A 39-year-old man tested positive for the Nipah virus, which was transmitted to him through direct contact with an infected person who died on August 30, State Health Minister Veena George said in Kozhikode on Friday.

With the number of active cases rising to four, the state government has decided to test everyone who are on the high-risk contact list of the infected persons.

George said that the man was confirmed with the Nipah virus after his samples turned positive, taking the total infected in the state to six, of which two had died earlier.

The minister's office today said that the person found infected had sought treatment at a private hospital where Nipah-infected persons were treated for other ailments earlier.

A high-level meeting was held at the Kozhikode Collectorate here today to take stock of the situation.

Besides George, Ministers P A Mohammed Riyas, Ahamed Devarkovil and A K Saseendran took part in the meeting.

Briefing the media after the meeting, George said the health conditions of those affected, including the nine-year-old boy on ventilator support, were stable.

It is suspected that the patients under treatment were infected with the virus from a person who died on August 30, she said.

"So, we have decided to test all those who are under high-risk contacts even though they don't have any symptoms. Currently, we have two additional facilities in Kozhikode. We have a mobile lab from the Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology (RGCB) with two machines that can test 96 samples at a time," she said.

As per protocol, only the samples of those who show symptoms can be checked.

"But here we have decided to test the samples of all those who are in the high-risk category of contacts. We have the mobile lab from RGCB and the lab at Kozhikode Medical College Hospital," the minister said.

Along with the mobile testing lab from RGCB, the mobile lab from Pune NIV has also reached the state, which will increase the speed of testing and confirming the results, she said.

The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR)'s National Institute of Virology (NIV) in Pune had on Thursday sent its mobile BSL-3 (Biosafety Level-3) laboratory to Kozhikode to test the samples for the virus in the district where two deaths were recorded.

A five-member Central team comprising experts from the National Centre for Disease Control, RML Hospital and NIMHANS has been stationed in Kerala to take stock of the situation and assist the state government in the management of the Nipah infection.

This is the fourth time the viral infection has been confirmed in the state. It was detected in Kozhikode in 2018 and 2021 and in Ernakulam in 2019.

The district administration has already declared a holiday for educational institutions in Kozhikode on Saturday (September 16), in addition to Thursday and Friday.

On Wednesday, a 24-year-old health worker became Kerala's fifth confirmed Nipah case in the latest outbreak.

The World Health Organisation and the ICMR studies have found that the entire state, not just Kozhikode, is prone to such infections.

People living in forest areas have to take the highest precautions, it said, adding that the latest virus originated within five kilometres of a jungle area.