Authorities in the Indian state of Kerala are taking preventive measures following the death of a 14-year-old boy from the Nipah virus and the identification of 60 people in a high-risk patient category, said the state health minister on Sunday (21).
Parts of Kerala are among the most at risk for outbreaks of the virus, a Reuters investigation showed last year. Nipah, which comes from fruit bats and animals like pigs, can cause lethal fever and swelling in the human brain.
Nipah is classified as a priority pathogen by the World Health Organization (WHO) due to its potential to trigger an epidemic. There is no vaccine to prevent infection and no treatment to cure it.
“The infected boy died on Sunday after a cardiac arrest,” said Veena George, the state health minister, speaking in Malayalam.
Earlier, in a statement on Saturday, she said that as part of the Nipah control efforts, the government issued orders to create 25 committees to identify and isolate affected individuals.
Dr. Anoop Kumar, director of critical care medicine at Aster MIMS Hospital in Calicut, stated that a positive case of Nipah had been diagnosed in a schoolboy and those who had been in contact with him were being monitored.
“There is a minimal chance of an outbreak of the Nipah virus at this stage,” he said, adding that the situation would be monitored over the next seven to ten days.
There are 214 people on the boy’s primary contact list, the statement said. Among them, 60 are in the high-risk category, and isolation rooms have been created in health institutions to treat the patients.
The affected patient’s family members have been kept in a local hospital for observation, after a case of the Nipah virus was confirmed in Malappuram, a city about 350 kilometers away. Other individuals who could be at risk have been advised to isolate at home.
The state government said it is working to trace anyone affected to contain the spread of the virus. Nipah has been linked to the deaths of dozens of people in Kerala since its first appearance in the state in 2018.
The virus was first identified 25 years ago in Malaysia and has led to outbreaks in Bangladesh, India, and Singapore.
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