NEW DELHI :A health team from the Centre visited Kerala’s Kozhikode district on Sunday, where a 12-year-old boy died after getting infected by the Nipah virus and collected samples of Rambutan fruits from the area. The sample could help identify the source of the infection and confirm whether the origin of the infection was through a bat, according to a statement by the government.
The team from Delhi’s National Centre for Diseases Control also interacted with the family and those close to the boy to identify the food he ate and the animals he may have come in contact with. At least 18 close contacts, mainly relatives and health workers, of the boy and 150 secondary contacts have been identified and quarantined. Two health workers later showed symptoms of Nipah.
It also advised everyone to be extra vigilant and inform health professionals as soon as possible if they have similar symptoms of the disease, which has a case fatality rate of 40 per cent to 80 per cent. Local residents must follow protocol at their homes and surroundings, as the state government imposed restrictions within a three-kilometre radius of the Nipah victim’s house and declared it as a containment zone, the central officials said. Similar cautionary steps have been issued in nearby areas of Kozhikode, Malappuram and Kannur districts.
