At least ten people are feared to have died in North Kerala from the Nipah virus, an infection which has high fatality rate and spreads mainly through bats, pigs and other animals, state health officials said. More deaths have been reported from the area but the cause of these deaths is not known yet.
Lini, the nurse at Perambra Taluk Hospital who died on Monday after possibly getting exposed to the deadly virus while tending to a Nipah virus-infected patient, died without even getting a chance to bid adieu to her loved ones, including her two kids and husband.
The Union Health Ministry has rushed a team of experts to assist the state which is struggling to cope with the outbreak. “The situation is well under control. Officially, we have confirmed nine fever deaths from the two districts of Kozhikode and Malappuram. Of these, four cases have been confirmed to be Nipah-infected,” Kerala’s health minister KK Shailaja told a daily.
Rajeev Sadanandan, additional chief secretary, department of health & family welfare, said the virus was confirmed in tests conducted at a Pune institute on samples of the three deceased from a family at Changaroth. He said the department has not been able to ascertain the extent of the spread of the disease as the virus has an incubation period of four to 18 days.
The high-level team from the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has been asked to assist the Kerala government and closely monitor the situation.
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