Nipah, which comes from fruit bats and animals such as pigs, can cause a lethal, brain-swelling fever in humans. It is classified as a priority pathogen by the World Health Organization (WHO) because of its potential to trigger an epidemic. There is no vaccine to prevent infection and no treatment to cure it
KOCHI: Authorities in southern India’s Kerala state are taking preventive steps after the death of a 14-year-old boy from the Nipah virus and the identification of 60 people in the high-risk category, the state’s health minister said on Sunday.
Parts of Kerala are among those most at risk globally for outbreaks of the virus, a Reuters investigation showed last year. Nipah, which comes from fruit bats and animals such as pigs, can cause a lethal, brain-swelling fever in humans.
Nipah is classified as a priority pathogen by the World Health Organization (WHO) because of its potential to trigger an epidemic. There is no vaccine to prevent infection and no treatment to cure it.
The infected boy died on Sunday after a cardiac arrest, Veena George, the state health minister told local TV reporters, speaking in the Malayalam language.
Earlier, in a statement on Saturday, she said as part of Nipah control, the government has issued orders to set up 25 committees to identify and isolate affected people.
Dr Anoop Kumar, director of critical care medicine at Aster MIMS Hospital in Calicut, said one positive case of Nipah had been diagnosed in a school-going boy and persons who had been in contact with him were being watched.
There is a minimum chance of an outbreak of Nipah virus at this stage, he said, adding that the situation would be monitored for the next 7-10 days.
There are 214 people on the primary contact list of the boy, the statement said. Among them, 60 are in the high-risk category, it said, and isolation wards have been set up at health institutions to treat patients.
Family members of the affected patient were kept at a local hospital for observation, after a case of Nipah virus was confirmed in Malappuram, a town about 350km from Kerala’s capital Thiruvananthapuram, local media reports said. Other people who might be at risk were asked to isolate at home.
The state government said it is working to trace any affected people to contain the spread of the virus. Nipah has been linked to the deaths of dozens of people in Kerala since its first appearance in the state in 2018.
The virus was first identified 25 years ago in Malaysia and has led to outbreaks in Bangladesh, India, and Singapore.
Meanwhile, for the first time in the country, the Kerala Health department has issued special guidelines for the treatment of amoebic meningoencephalitis, a rare brain infection caused by free-living amoeba in contaminated waters, which has claimed many lives in the state in recent times.
Health Minister Veena George on Sunday said a technical guideline on the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of amoebic meningoencephalitis has been released.
There are only few scientific studies and reports about the rare disease and therefore the government decided to prepare a comprehensive guideline for it, based on existing studies and observations, she said.
A panel will be appointed in collaboration with the ICMR for further study and research in this regard, the minister said in a statement.
George directed government and private hospitals to strictly follow these guidelines.
A 14-year-old boy who had died early this month was the latest victim of amoebic meningoencephalitis in Kerala.
His was the fourth case of the rare brain infection reported in the state since May, and all the patients were children.
According to medical experts, the infection occurs when free-living, non-parasitic amoebae bacteria enter the body through the nose from contaminated water.
The disease was earlier reported in coastal Alappuzha district in the state in 2023 and 2017.