‘I don’t think I will meet you again’ Nipah virus not an outbreak: Nadda
FINAL WORDS Nurse Lini, who died of Nipah, tells husband in letter to take care of their kids
KOZHIKKODE: “I think I am almost on my way. I don’t think I will be able to meet you all again. Please look after our children well. Take them to the Gulf and don’t be all alone like your father, please,” wrote Lini Puthusheri, 32, the nurse who died of Nipah virus infection (NIV) on Sunday to her husband Sajish, who goes by one name.
On Sunday, Sajish had returned from Bahrain, where he works as an accountant, to be with her, but she asked him not to insist on seeing her. Instead of meeting him, she sent him a hurriedly-scribbled note.
The second of three daughters of Radhamani and Nanu, Lini did her nursing in Bangaluru before joining EMS Memorial Co-operative Hospital in Perambra as a part-time nurse. She got ill after treating three patients who died of NIV infection.
Chief minister, Pinarayi Vijayan, paid homage to her on social media: ”Her sacrifice is incomparable. Till her last she was dutiful.”
“I spoke to her before she got hospitalised and she was really worried over the death of Mohamd Sadik, one of the first people to die of NIV infection. She developed fever in a day or two after his death and passed away,” said Sajish, holding his sons, aged five and two, close to him. He became lost for words when his younger son asked why their mother hadn’t come back home after night duty.
Since the two children lived with their mother and the younger one was still being nursed before Lini was hospitalised, both children will also be tested for NIV once the family comes out of the shock.
Sajish is not complaining that the family was not able to see her and do her last rites, but he was shocked by the callousness of some of the hospital staff. The ambulance drivers at the medical college refused to carry her body to the electric crematorium till the police intervened, he said.
“There is no place for emotions. If the situation warrants, we have to obey what the authorities say,” he said.
Lini’s colleagues at EMS Memorial Co-operative Hospital recalled her as a quiet worker. She was on night duty when Mohammad Sadik, the first patient to die of NIV infection, was admitted. She nursed him till he was shifted to Kozhikode Medical College Hospital, where he died.
“None of us realised the gravity of the illness. We all thought it is a viral fever and treated the patients without masks and other protective gear,” said a senior nurse, who did not want to be named.
At least three nurses have been hospitalised for symptoms of fever and headache in the isolation ward at the Medical College Hospital and their blood samples have been sent for testing to the National Virology Institute, Pune. NEW DELHI: Following 12 cases of Nipah Viral Infection (NIV) being confirmed in Kerala, Union health minister JP Nadda said NIV cases in the state are a “localised occurrence” restricted to the area and cannot be termed an outbreak.
“Isolation wards have been opened in many hospitals in Kozhikode to keep the suspected cases under observation and treat those who show symptoms. There is no specific treatment for NIV and patients are usually given symptomatic care. Isolating patients and suspected cases is crucial to prevent the spread,” said a senior health ministry official familiar with the matter.
The Centre has sent a team comprising experts from the Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), the animal husbandry department and the All India Institute of Medical Sciences to investigate the cause and contain the spread of the infection.
Enhanced active fever surveillance in the affected community and tracing close contacts of the people infected with NIV, including their relatives and healthcare workers who treated them, is the mainstay of controlling the spread of the deadly infection.
More than 60 samples have been collected and sent for examination to National Institute of Virology in Pune. Seven people with symptoms of fever have been admitted in Baby Memorial Hospital and in the Govt. Medical College at Kozhikode and two are at the Amrutha Medical College, Ernakulum.
The team visited homes in Perambra town in Kozhikode district from where the three initial deaths were reported. “Many bats were found to be housed in the well from where the family that lost three people to the infection was drawing water. Some bats were caught and sent for lab examination to confirm whether they were the cause of the disease or not,” said a statement by the health ministry.
NCDC also has a unit active in Kozhikode that, along with the team from the Centre, is helping the state health department to assess risk and manage disease.
The team has advised hospitals to follow intracranial pressure guidelines to treat the rise in pressure in the brain as a result of encephalitis (swelling in the membrane surrounding the brain), which is one of the complications in NIV. All healthcare workers treating and collecting samples have been given personal protective equipment and hospitals have been asked to follow infection-control practices.
“Appropriate steps to contain this virus have been taken among domestic animals such as pigs. Since all the contacts are under observation and steps to avoid exposure through animal vectors have been taken, there is no reason for people to panic. Do not believe in rumours posted on social media and do not spread panic,” said a statement from Nadda.
I think I am almost on my way. I don’t think I will be able to meet you all again. Please look after our children well. Take them to the Gulf and don’t be all alone like your father.
LINI, nurse who succumbed to Nipah, in a letter to her husband