12-year-old boy dies of Nipah virus infection in Kozhikode, Central team rushed to Kerala

Kozhikode, Sep 05: A 12-year-old boy died on Sunday morning from Nipah virus infection after undergoing treatment at a private hospital in Kozhikode district of Kerala.

The state government held a high-level meeting of health officials late Saturday night following the information about the suspected Nipah infection, a health department source said.

A Central team has been rushed to Kerala after a 12-year-old boy died due to Nipah virus infection in the state's Kozhikode district, the Union Health Ministry said on Sunday.

The samples of the boy, which were sent to the Pune National Institute of Virology, confirmed the presence of Nipah virus. The Central Government has rushed a team of National Centre for Disease Control to the state, which will be reaching on Sunday.

The team will provide technical support to the state, the ministry said. Some immediate public health measures have been advised by the Centre which include active case search in the family, families, village and areas with similar topography especially in Malappuram.

The measures also include active contact tracing for any contacts in the past 12 days, strict quarantine of the contacts and isolation of any suspects and collection and transportation of samples for lab testing, the ministry said.

Nipal virus is spread by saliva of the fruit bats. In 2018 also, there was a Nipah outbreak in Kozhikode and Malappuram districts of Kerala.