Suspected Nipah deaths: fever surveys under way in two places in Kozhikode 

Surveillance steps are being taken up at Maruthonkara and Thiruvallur blocks in Kozhikode district of Kerala after two persons from there died of suspected Nipah virus infection

Surveillance steps are being taken up at Maruthonkara and Thiruvallur blocks in Kozhikode district of Kerala after two persons from there died of suspected Nipah virus infection in recent days. 

According to sources, the Health department has started fever surveys in these places. An isolation ward is being readied at the Government Medical College Hospital, Kozhikode.

Health Minister Veena George told the media on Tuesday morning that 75 people, who were in the primary contact list of the deceased, are under medical observation. This includes four relatives of one of the deceased. One of them, a nine-year-old child, is on ventilator support. She said that a control room would be opened in Kozhikode to monitor the situation. All the hospitals in the district would be asked to follow infection control protocol. Sixteen teams have been formed to take forward containment steps. Body fluid samples of one of the dead persons have been sent for lab tests at the National Institute of Virology, Pune. Results are expected by Tuesday evening. 

Ms. George attended a high-level meeting at the Kozhikode collectorate earlier. The Director of Health Services and the Director of Medical Education, among others, attended it. 

The Health department had issued an alert for the district late on Monday. Sources said that the two persons succumbed to fever at private hospitals in Kozhikode. The first person who died on August 30 was a 49-year-old native of Maruthonkar . However, the body fluid samples of the deceased were reportedly not subjected to detailed tests for Nipah infection. Doctors at another private hospital raised a suspicion after one more person from Ayanchery, who was in contact with the deceased, died with similar symptoms on Monday. Thereafter, the relatives of the first patient too were taken ill. 

Nipah virus infection was first reported in Kozhikode in 2018. Isolated cases were reported from Kochi and again in Kozhikode in 2019 and 2021, respectively.