Following the confirmation of Nipah infection as the cause of deaths of two persons in Kozhikode district, the State government has stepped up contact tracing and isolation procedures to prevent further spread of the virus, Health Minister Veena George told the Assembly on Wednesday.
A team from the National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune, would arrive in Kerala by evening and set up a mobile Nipah testing lab at the Government Medical College Hospital, Kozhikode, while another team would carry out a bat survey.
Another team of epidemiologists from Chennai would also arrive in the State during the day to carry out studies. The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR)‘s supply of Monoclonal antibodies, to treat those tested positive for Nipah, would be brought to the State by a flight.
The Minister said a case of unnatural fever-related death at a private hospital in Kozhikode and the detection of similar symptoms in relatives prompted the Health department to carry out sample tests. The samples were tested at the Biosafety Level (BSL) 2 lab at the Kozhikode Medical College, following which Nipah was detected. At present, such test facilities were available in Kozhikode as well as at the Virology Institute at Thonnakkal.
However, as per the ICMR’s protocols, the confirmation had to be done from the NIV lab in Pune, which is of BSL4 standards, following which the Nipah outbreak was declared. The index case was the person who died at the private hospital on August 30. However, since he had other serious conditions, including liver cirrhosis, the possibility of Nipah was not suspected.
She said the Nipah cases detected here belonged to the Bangladesh strain, which was comparatively less infectious but had a high mortality rate of 70%. Contact tracing and containment efforts were on.
Route maps of the Nipah-affected had already been published on Wednesday. Seventy-five rooms had been arranged at the Kozhikode Medical College for isolation purposes. Steps had been taken to provide psychological support to those under isolation, Ms. George said.
