Nipah Count Now Five, Schools Shut In Kerala District: 10 Points

A 24-year-old health worker has been infected with the Nipah virus (NiV), Kerala Health Minister Veena George said on Wednesday, adding that contact tracing has begun. Of the 706 contacts, 77 are in the high-risk category and 153 health workers are in the low-risk category. 13 people are under observation in a hospital and are showing mild symptoms, like headache.

The nine-year-old boy's condition is critical and he is on ventilator support at a hospital in Kozhikode, the minister said. The state government has ordered monoclonal antibody from the Indian Council of Medical Research to treat him. It is the only available anti-viral treatment for Nipah virus infection, though it has not been clinically proven yet, news agency PTI reported. 

Responding to a question in the state assembly, the Kerala government has said seven village panchayats in Kozhikode district - Atanchery, Maruthonkara, Tiruvallur, Kuttiyadi, Kayakkodi, Villyapalli, and Kavilumpara - have been declared containment zones to limit the spread of the infection.

The Kerala government has also formed 19 core committees to coordinate all measures to contain the spread of the virus. Essential items are being delivered to those in isolation by volunteer teams formed by the local self-government. 

A holiday has been declared for all educational institutions in Kozhikode, which is the epicentre of the outbreak, on Thursday and Friday. The announcement was made by Kozhikode District Collector A Geetha in a Facebook post.

Former Kerala health Minister and senior CPM MLA KK Shailaja, who is also known as Shailaja Teacher and was praised for containing the Nipah infection effectively in 2018, has said that the situation is not as scary as it was that year. She said the state has a standard operating procedure in place to fight the infection. 

"In 2018, it was a new virus to us, and we did not have any experience battling such an infection. Now, we have everything in place to contain it effectively," Ms Shailaja was quoted as saying by PTI. 

The Nipah virus is a zoonotic virus and is named after the Malaysian village it was first detected in. It can be transmitted to humans from animals such as bats or pigs. It can also be transmitted through contaminated food or close contact with an infected person.

According to the World Health Organisation, Nipah virus infection in humans causes a range of clinical presentations, from asymptomatic infection to acute respiratory infection and fatal encephalitis. The case fatality rate is estimated to be 40-75%.

Fruit bats of the Pteropodidae family are the natural host of the virus. The WHO says there is no treatment or vaccine available for either people or animals, and the primary treatment for humans is supportive care.