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

--  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.

WHAT IS THE BANGLADESH STRAIN OF NIPAH VRUS?

-- 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.

WHAT HAS KERALA DONE SO FAR

-- 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.