Nipah virus situation under control, Indian minister says
Kerala nurse caring for patients dies; outbreak suspected to have been spread by infected bats
In the wake of the Nipah virus claiming 10 lives in Kerala, the Union Health Ministry yesterday asked people not to “panic” and said the outbreak was “unlikely” to spread as early and efficient containment measures were being taken.
The ministry noted that the outbreak appeared to be a “localised” occurrence. The situation is under control, Union Health Minister J.P. Nadda said.
The outbreak of the rare, brain-damaging virus is suspected to have been spread by infected fruit bats.
State Health Minister K.K. Shailaja said that 11 in Kozhikode are under observation. Some of the bats have been caught and sent for examination to a laboratory to confirm whether they were the cause of the disease, she said.
Meanwhile, a nurse caring for patients infected with the deadly virus has died. The nurse, with two young children and a husband working overseas, scrawled the words in blue pen as she lay dying in an Indian hospital isolation ward. “I think I am almost on my way. I may not be able to see you again. Sorry,” Lini Puthusheri wrote to her husband in a combination of English and Malayalam.
“Take care of our children,” she wrote.
The Kerala government yesterday confirmed that a dozen people in the state had contracted the dreaded Nipah virus, and that 10 of them were dead.
The deceased include two siblings in Malappuram district, Mohammad Sadiq and Mohammad Salih, both in their twenties, and a nurse identified as Lini Sajeesh, who contracted the disease due to proximity to patients as part of her duties.
State Health Minister K.K. Shailaja said two of those who were still battling the disease were in a critical condition in the Kozhikode Medical College Hospital.
The state government’s clarification on the deaths came after results were made available of the blood samples sent for testing at the National Virology Institute in Pune.
Two of the 10 deaths occurred yesterday morning, with the deceased being identified as Madampally M. Rajan, 47 and Ashokan, a native of Nadapuram.
The latter had been initially undergoing treatment at the EMS Hospital in Perambra where the deceased brothers were also being treated.
While the state government is battling the health crisis triggered by the Nipah virus, the situation has been complicated further by cases of dengue fever in different parts of the state.
Unlike the Nipah virus, which has been reported predominantly from Kozhikode and Malappuram districts, dengue cases have been reported from multiple districts.
Plantation owners advised
Health department officials across the state have been pressed into service to visit individual houses and advise residents to ensure there are no water puddles that can lead to a spike in mosquitoes.
Rubber plantation owners have been advised to ensure that the cups used to collect latex are kept upside down after the day’s tapping is over so that mosquitoes don’t breed in them.
No country has yet issued a travel advisory regarding the matter, but the state is worried whether the news itself will adversely affect its shortterm tourism prospects, particularly at a time when it is recovering from the impact of a liquor ban imposed by the previous United Democratic Front government.
While taking measures to tackle the spread of the virus, the state government is also burdened with advice from quacks on social media. Some of them advise people not to eat jackfruit and mango as these could be infected by bats.