India is currently dealing with an outbreak of the Nipah virus, a rare virus that spreads from animals to humans and causes a deadly fever. Nipah has been listed by the World Health Organization as one of several diseases that could potentially cause a global epidemic. The virus usually spreads through contaminated food or from animals to humans, but it can also be transmitted directly between people.
While two of the six people who tested positive for Nipah have died in Kerala, three others are undergoing treatment. Restrictions have been placed in nine panchayats in Kozhikode district.
Teams from the National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune, will set up a mobile lab at Kozhikode Medical College in Kerala to test for Nipah and conduct a bat survey. The move comes after four people in Kozhikode district tested positive for Nipah infection. The Health Minister confirmed that the virus strain in Kerala is the Bangladesh variant, which spreads from human to human with a high mortality rate.
The contact list of one the deceased has 168 people, and the second has 158, George said. Of them, 127 are health workers. Efforts are on to identify all people who had come into contact with the infected persons, George said.
An official communication from Health Minister Veena George said the alert has been sounded in the district following two deaths at a private hospital in Kozhikode.