Nipah: 175 people under observation, says Health Minister

Another patient has died in India from the Nipah virus, taking the number of fatalities from an outbreak of the rare disease to 13, authorities said Sunday.

Doctors collected his throat swab, blood, urine and CSF (liquid around brain and spinal cord) samples, and sent to the laboratory set up at Alappuzzha in Kerala and the results have proved negative.

Health minister K K Shailaja said here today that 175 persons are being monitored.

She said if people have visited the affected places and if they notice the disease’s symptoms in them then they should immediately report to the health centres.

Two other patients were in isolation in neighbouring Karnataka state after developing symptoms similar to Nipah upon returning from Kerala.

Kerala government has announced a compensation of Rs 5 lakh to the victims of Nipah virus.

The WHO describes the virus as “newly emerging” with the potential to cause “severe disease in both animals and humans”.

In an effort to nip the thread in the bud, CEPI will grant up to $25 million over the next five years to US-based pharma firms Profectus BioSciences and Emergent BioSolutions in order to develop a vaccine against Nipah.

Shimla: Tests in the National Institute of Virology in Pune have ruled out bats, found dead in Himachal Pradesh’s Sirmaur district, were carrying the Nipah virus, an official said on Saturday. However, the lab officials are still in the process to conduct more tests to find the main cause.

Although there has been not a single case of Nipah virus registered in the state till date, but health department needs to remain extra cautious on the issue, Gupta said.

Nipah virus symptoms are not specific and include flu-like illness and hence can be confused with any respiratory illness. The virus kills up to 75 percent of those infected. “Transmission also occurs from direct exposure to infected bats”.

On Thursday, medical workers in white plastic suits and breathing masks buried the latest victim in the town of Kozhikode, placing his plastic-wrapped corpse in the red earth.

“So people who come in close contact of the patients are usually the ones who acquire the disease”.

The state government has advised students from Kerala studying in various institutions of the state not to vist Kerala for now to avoid chances of contacting the virus.

People have also been told to avoid abandoned wells.