23-Year-Old Kerala Student Infected With Nipah Virus, Confirms Government

Thiruvananthapuram, June 4, 2019:

The Kerala Government has confirmed that a 23-year-old student in the southern Indian state has been infected with the deadly Nipah virus.

The student, who has been admitted in a private hospital in Kerala's Ernakulam, has tested positive for the deadly virus, which killed 17 people in the state last year.

The National Institute of Virology, which tested his blood samples, has confirmed the presence of the virus, the government has confirmed.

The 23-year-old studied is a student college in Thodupuzha in Idukki and had stayed in Thrissur recently. According to Thrissur district medical officer, the student was in Thrissur for days and had been down with fever. Investigations are on to find out the places visited by the afflicted student in the past few days.

Meanwhile, newly-inducted Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan has said that he is in touch with the Kerala Health Minister KK Shailaja and assured that the centre will send monoclonal antibody (medicines) to Kerala. He further urged people not to panic. Shailaja, meanwhile, has said that he is not aware of the source of the latest Nipha virus outbreak.

The rare medicine, sourced from Australia after the Nipah outbreak last year, is available only with the National Institute of Virology.

It may be mentioned that according to the World Health Organisation (WHO), 18 Nipah cases were reported in Kerala last year; 17 of them died.

Henipaviruses are naturally harboured by pteropid fruit bats (flying foxes) and microbats of several species.

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