KOZHIKODE:
The death toll due to Nipah Virus in Kerala had gone up to 10 with Lini, 31, the nurse at Perambra Taluk Hospital who died on Monday after possibly getting exposed to the deadly virus while tending to a Nipah virus infected patient.
On Sunday, the toll had risen to nine with the death of six more persons who had shown symptoms of the disease. Of this, two deaths were reported from Kozhikode and four from Malappuram district. Lini died without without even getting a chance to bid adieu to her too. Her family from Chembanoda region near Peruvannamuzhi allowed the health department to cremate at an electric crematorium in the city without taking the body home to avoid the spread of the virus. “In her last days, she realised she had contacted a possibly-fatal infection after the youth from Changaroth — whom she had attended to in the initial stages — died. She lived to help others and her death has become a sacrifice,” said her maternal uncle V Balan.
Her two children, Sidharth (5) and Rithul (2), couldn’t give their mother one last kiss. On hearing that Lini was sick, her husband Sajeesh had come home from the Gulf two days ago.
Rajeev Sadanandan, additional chief secretary, department of health & family welfare, said the virus was confirmed in tests conducted at a Pune institute on samples of the three deceased from a family at Changaroth. He said the department has not been able to ascertain the extent of the spread of the disease as the virus has an incubation period of four to 18 days.
On Sunday evening Kerala Health Services Director Dr R L Saritha said, “Today, we got the confirmation report from National Institute of Virology, Pune. We had sent four samples to the institute and three of them tested positive for Nipah virus.”
In the last two weeks, there were three deaths in one family at Changaroth panchayat in Kozhikode district in Kerala. Siblings Mohammed Sadik (26) and Mohammed Salih (28), sons of Valachuketti Moosa, died on May 5 and May 18 respectively. Moosa’s brother Moideen’s wife Mariam (50) passed away on May 19. Moosa (62) is now in a critical condition while Atifa (19), Salih’s fiancée, is undergoing treatment at a private hospital.
Samples from the deceased were collected and sent to virology lab at the Kasturba Medical College, Manipal and National Virology Institute in Pune. The results have now confirmed the presence of Nipah virus in the samples.
On Sunday, two more deaths have occurred in Kozhikode due to suspected viral infection. According to reports, District Medical Officer V Jayasree gave the names of those who died on Sunday as Ismail of Koottalida and Velayudhan of Kolathur. However, it was yet to be confirmed that they were inflicted with the virus, she said.
According to reports, 25 people are being kept under observation. Nine persons are undergoing treatment for the disease and remain critical. Six persons are being treated at the Medical College Hospital in Kozhikode, one at a private hospital in Kozhikode and one at Kochi.
Though the virus has been reported only in Kozhikode, a statewide alert has been given to remain vigilant. A 24-hour control room has been opened to monitor the situation. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayn has also requested all to follow the instructions of the health department to tackle this crisis.
The Nipah virus infection:
The World Health Organization (WHO) describes Nipah virus (NiV) infection as a “newly emerging zoonosis that causes severe disease in both animals and humans”. The natural host of the virus, according to WHO, are fruit bats of the Pteropodidae family, Pteropus genus (fruit-eating species).
How does Nipah virus infection spread and what are the symptoms?
The transmission of the Nipah virus takes place through the following means:
Direct contact with infected bats
Direct contact with infected pigs
Direct contact with other NiV-infected people
The infection with Nipah virus is associated with encephalitis (inflammation of the brain), says the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. The tell-tale signs of somebody having been infected by the Nipah virus are the following:
An infected person shows symptoms of fever and headache in 3-14 days of exposure and an incubation period of five to 14 days
Clinical signs are fever, headache, dizziness and vomiting, followed by drowsiness, disorientation and mental confusion
More than 50 per cent of the patients face a reduced level of consciousness and prominent brain-stem dysfunction
Some patients have a respiratory illness during the early part of their infections, and half of the patients with severe neurological signs also show pulmonary signs
The origin of the Nipah virus
The Nipah virus was first identified in Malaysia’s Kampung Sungai Nipah in 1998
Pigs were understood to be the intermediate hosts during that outbreak
Around 1.1 million pigs had to be culled to control the outbreak
But a Nipah outbreak need not necessarily have an intermediate host
The earlier instances of Nipah outbreak in India
In India, Nipah Virus affected the humans without any involvement of pigs
The first outbreak was observed in Siliguri, West Bengal in 2001
The second incident also emerged in West Bengal, in Nadia district in 2007
Scientists found humans contracted the disease by drinking raw date palm sap tapped directly from trees
Nipah virus toll: The Nipah virus claimed over 300 lives across Malaysia, Singapore, Bangladesh and India between 1998 and 2008, according to WHO.
Global instances of Nipah outbreak
Bangladesh recorded several Nipah outbreaks in humans almost every year from 2001 to 2013
The virus has also been detected in Cambodia, Thailand, Indonesia, Madagascar in Southern Africa and Ghana in West Africa on fruit bats or bats seropositive to NiV antibodies, according to a 2013 ICMR-sponsored research paper.
The treatments of the Nipah virus
According to WHO, there is no vaccine currently available for either humans or animals
NiV-infected patients are currently limited to supportive care
People have also been cautioned that they should not consume fruits that have fallen on to the ground
What doctors’ say about the Nipah virus diagnosis
According to Dr Atul Gogia, senior consultant, Department of Medicine, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital Nipah is just another viral infection that affects the respiratory and central nervous systems with symptoms like drowsiness. “Like most other viral infections, Nipah also has no treatment and can only be managed through intensive supportive care,” he says. The senior doctor does not rule out the possibility of an infected person travelling to other parts of the country and spreading the disease, but he affirms that at present there is no threat in other parts of the country.
