Nipah virus infection count in Kozhikode goes up to 5, contact list starts to swell | Details

The brain-damaging Nipah virus has so far killed two people in Kerala.

The Centre has rushed a team to Kerala after the state was put on alert for Nipah virus’ ‘Bangladesh strain’.  The deadly, brain-infecting pathogen has so far infected five people in Kerala.

According to reports, 700 people have come into contact of the patients. Out of these 700, about 77 are in the high-risk category.

-- Latest case reported in Kozhikode is of a 24-year-old healthcare worker who has tested positive.

--  The infected are being treated with monoclonal antibodies, which is the only available anti-viral treatment for Nipah virus infection, though it has not been clinically proven yet.

-- Holiday declared for all educational institutions today and on  Friday.

--  No change, however,  in university exams schedule

--  371 contacts of the first victim, a 47-year-old man from Maruthonkara in Kozhikode, under observation

--  60 contacts of the man’s nine-year-old son, who is undergoing treatment at a private hospital in the city, too have been traced.

-- One of the man’s brothers-in-law, a 24-year-old man, has 77 contacts.

-- Nipah virus (NiV) is a bat-borne paramyxovirus and has two divergent strains — NiV-Malaysia and NiV-Bangladesh.

-- Bangladesh strain of Nipah Virus emerged in 2001 and subsequent outbreaks of disease have occurred almost annually.

-- Since 2001, more than 200 cases in humans have been identified in Bangladesh. The overall case-fatality rate is more than 70%.

-- Kerala health minister Veena George says the Bangladesh variant spreads from human to human and has a high mortality rate, though it is less infectious.

-- Testing of the samples is being done regularly in the labs at Kozhikode Medical College and Thonnakkal virology lab.

-- Gatherings have been banned in Kozhikode till September 24.

--  Volunteer teams set up in containment zones to help people

-- Four more wards—three in Villyapally and one in Purameri Panchayats in Kozhikode district -- have been declared as containment zones in addition to the 7 announced on Tuesday. These are Atanchery, Maruthonkara, Tiruvallur, Kuttiyadi, Kayakkodi, Villyapalli, and Kavilumpara.

--- Transport banned in these containment zones till further notice.

-- Only essential services allowed to function

-- Banks, government or quasi-government institutions, educational institutions, and anganwadis closed

-- Buses or vehicles plying on national highways through the containment zones should not stop in the affected areas.