Centre to deploy team to support Kerala in probing Nipah virus case

New Delhi: The government will deploy a multi-member joint outbreak response team to support Kerala in investigating a Nipah virus case detected in its Mallapuram district, identifying epidemiological linkages and providing technical assistance. In a statement on Sunday, the Union health ministry said a 14-year-old boy from the district exhibited the acute encephalitis syndrome and was admitted to a healthcare facility in Perinthalmanna before being transferred to a higher health centre in Kozhikode.

He succumbed to the disease and samples were sent to the Pune-based National Institute of Virology, which confirmed Nipah virus infection, it said.

Fruit bats are the usual reservoir of the virus, and humans can become infected by accidentally consuming bat-contaminated fruits.

Outbreaks of the Nipah Virus Disease (NiVD) have been reported in Kerala in the past, with the last occurring in 2023 in Kozhikode district, the statement said.

The ministry has advised the state to immediately implement public health measures such as active case search in the boy's family and his neighbourhood, and in areas with similar topography of the place the case was detected.

Kerala has also been advised to start tracing people who have come in contact with the patient in the last 12 days and implement strict quarantine for them, and isolation for suspects.

The multi-member joint outbreak response team from the 'One Health' mission of the health ministry will be deployed to support the state in investigating the case, identifying epidemiological linkages, and providing technical assistance, the statement said.

In addition, at the state's request, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) had sent monoclonal antibodies for patient management but it could not be used because of the boy's "poor general condition", according to the ministry.

It said a mobile BSL-3 laboratory for testing samples from patient contacts has reached Kozhikode.