After a health alert following two unusual fever deaths in Kozhikode, Kerala’s Health Minister Veena George said that precautionary measures had been initiated in the state and further action would be taken after the test results were obtained.
The samples of the deceased have been sent to ICMR-National Institute of Virology, Pune, and the results are expected to arrive on Tuesday evening, September 12. A 49-year-old man died on August 30, and another 40-year-old person died on September 11, in the same private hospital at Kozhikode.
Addressing a press meet on Tuesday morning after a high level meeting of officials at the district collectorate, Minister Veena said that the contacts of the deceased, including their relatives, were being monitored by the health department officials. “The family members of the 49-year-old deceased have been admitted at the hospital with fever and are under treatment. This includes the man’s nine-year-old son, a ten-month-old child and an elderly relative of the man. All of their samples have also been sent to NIV Pune. Both the deceased have come in contact with each other at the hospital. As many as 75 persons have been added in the list through contact tracing,” she said and added that the entire public and private health system was on alert in the state. Stating that only the NIV could confirm if it was Nipah, the Minister said that isolation facilities were ready as part of precautionary measures. She also said that 16 teams of medical officers have been formed for surveillance, contact tracing and identification of cases.
Dr AS Anoop Kumar, who was at the forefront during the earlier Nipah outbreak in the state, speaking to Asianet News, said that both the deceased had come in to contact with each other at the hospital. “The 49-year-old man is from Maruthonkara of Kozhikode and the 40-year-old man is from Ayanchery in Vadakara. The first person’s father was admitted to the private hospital on the same day the second person came there. Based on the hospital records, (it can be surmised) both of them had been in the same room at one point,” he said. Dr Anoop also added that they had put together the unusual clinical symptoms exhibited by the patients, noted the index case and listed all the contacts of them, based on the suspicion that it might be Nipah. “These are just suspicions based on the medical reports and their symptoms. Further course of action will be taken based on the lab report,” he said.
Meanwhile, reports state that the condition of the nine-year-old boy who is admitted at the hospital is serious. The mortal remains of the 40-year-old man are also yet to be handed over to the family for cremation as the test results are yet to be received.
The first Nipah outbreak in Kerala was in 2018, during which 17 deaths were reported and 18 cases were confirmed as Nipah as of June 1, 2018. However, when a second outbreak happened in 2019, the state was able to contain it without reporting any deaths. Three years after the first outbreak, another case of the Nipah virus was reported from the state when a 12-year-old boy succumbed to the infection in Kozhikode district in September 2021.