It was confirmed that two people in Kozhikode passed away from the Nipah virus on Tuesday, prompting the Union Health Ministry to send a team of experts to Kerala.
One person passed away on September 11, while the other passed away on August 30.
The Nipah virus was also found in a 9-year-old child and a 24-year-old relative of the person who passed away on Monday (September 11).
Five samples were sent to the National Institute of Virology in Pune for examination, according to Kerala’s Minister of Health Veena George.
Three of the five, including the guy who passed away yesterday, were positive. The state minister concluded from this that the first person who passed away on August 30 must also have the virus.
“We are intensively doing contact tracing – high-risk contact, low-risk contact. We will trace everybody who came in contact with the people who tested positive,” the Kerala Health Minister said.
The Kerala Health Department had also issued an alert after the two deaths in Kozhikode.
Two Nipah virus epidemics have previously occurred in Kozhikode, one in 2018 and the second in 2021. There were 23 cases in total during the initial epidemic in 2018, and 17 people died as a result of this zoonotic virus.
The symptoms of nipah virus infection can vary, from asymptomatic (subclinical) infections to severe respiratory sickness and deadly encephalitis in infected people.
