Kerala Forest Dept and NIV to probe Nipah virus source; restrictions eased in Malappuram
Palakkad: The Kerala Forest Department and the National Institute of Virology (NIV) are collaborating to find the source of the Nipah virus in the state.
The development came in the wake of the recent outbreak of the virus in Palakkad and Malappuram districts.
Forest Minister AK Saseendran has guaranteed NIV officials, led by Dileep Patil, access to forest areas in order to collect samples from bats and conduct extensive tests. The move is in light of the urgent need to understand how the virus transmission occurs in a given population, considering the high fatalities caused by every outbreak.
Need to identify transmission source
Kerala has witnessed Nipah epidemics and deaths since 2018, but despite the Health Department’s commendable efforts to contain the spread of the virus, the authorities have been unable to pinpoint when and where the virus was transferred from bats to humans.
Efforts have previously identified RNA and antibodies of the virus in Pteropus or fruit bats in the outbreak areas.
Restrictions relaxed in Malappuram; 499 in contact list
All containment zones and restrictions in Malappuram have been relaxed since no new cases have been reported since an 18-year-old woman succumbed to the infection. 56 quarantined people had reportedly tested negative for the virus.
Two central teams had arrived at the infected areas in Palakkad and Malappuram, led by the National Joint Outbreak Response Team and the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), on July 9 and 10 respectively. NCDC director Pranay Varma had held discussions with the District Medical Officer (DMO) R. Renuka and approved the measures taken by the state to curb the disease.
Health Minister Veena George had announced that 499 people are in the contact list of the two confirmed cases so far, who are under the state’s observation as of July 10.
The highest number was in Malappuram, at 203, followed by 178 in Palakkad, 116 in Kozhikode, and two in Ernakulam.