Nipah virus outbreak: Karnataka on high alert

Two persons reportedly affected with Nipah virus have been admitted to hospital in coastal city Mangalore on Tuesday. Their blood samples have been sent to KMC Hospital in Manipal for the test.

Dakshina Kannada district Medical Officer Dr Ramkrishna Rao said that the infection of the virus has not been confirmed yet.

Coastal Karnataka has been on high alert since Nipah virus outbreak has hit neighbouring state Kerala.

According to the sources, health check-up of passengers arriving from Kerala has been ordered. The State Health Department has already informed the doctors about the causes, symptoms and detection of the infection.

The Nipah virus has so far claimed 10 lives in Kozhikode and Malappuram districts in north Kerala while the condition of two persons undergoing treatment for the viral disease is said to be critical.

Kerala has been put on high alert after the rare Nipah virus claimed six lives in the state. More deaths with similar symptoms have been reported from the state and the authorities have sent the sample for tests. Also referred to as NiV, the infection spreads through fruit bats.

As per a report on WHO website, Nipah is a newly emerging virus, which gets transferred from animals to humans, and it causes severe disease in both animals as well as humans. The natural host of the virus is fruit bats of the "Pteropodidae Family, Pteropus genus".