Deadly virus outbreak sparks panic in India

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A deadly Nipah virus (NiV) outbreak in Kerala, a southern state of India, is suspected to have claimed more than 10 lives in the last few days, and hundreds of patients have been rushed to hospitals after they showed symptoms of the infection.

On Sunday, the National Institute of Virology in Pune confirmed three deaths, and a fourth illness from the same family, were caused by NiV. The surviving member of the family is in critical condition and on ventilator support. According to hospital authorities, 10 suspected deaths include six from Kozhikode and the rest from Malappuram.

Alarmed over the rising number of cases and reported deaths due to NiV in the Kozhikode district of Kerala, the Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare assured all support would be available to the Kerala Government. The minister has directed a multi-disciplinary Central team from National Center for Disease Control (NCDC) to visit the district immediately.

“We are closely monitoring the situation. I have also dispatched a Central team to assist the State government and initiate required steps,” the minister said in a statement from Geneva.

The nurse treating the NiV-infected patients at Perambra Taluk Hospital also died after getting exposed to the contagious virus. At the request of the hospital authorities, her body was directly sent for cremation instead of her home as authorities feared a further spread of infection from the corpse.

Shocked over the nurse’s death, the Chief Minister of Kerala, Pinarayi Vijayan, tweeted, “It is saddening to know that she lost her life while serving others. Her selfless service will be remembered.”

Kerala health minister KK Shailaja told reporters that the three confirmed deaths from NiV are all members of the same family from Changaroth village.

A medical team rushed to the victims’ house and found a large number of bats residing in the village. According to WHO and CDC, bats are natural hosts of NiV.

An operation to cull bats in the locality is almost complete and villagers have been evacuated. NiV has been termed as an emerging disease, but the virus was first identified in 1999 after an outbreak affected pig farmers in Malaysia and Singapore, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

In 2001, an NiV outbreak in Siliguri killed more than 45 people, and six years later, another outbreak in the Nadia district of the same state claimed five more lives. Symptoms of the infection include fever, headache, drowsiness, disorientation and in few cases, patients also slip into the coma.

At present no vaccine is available for NiV. However, the WHO claims, “A vaccine for NiV is being developed.”

[Top Image: Animal Husbandry department and Forest officials deposit a bat into a container after catching it inside a well at Changaroth in Kozhikode in the Indian state of Kerala on May 21, 2018. /VCG Photo]