Nipah Breakout In Kerala: 11 More Tested Negative

As Nipah has returned to haunt Kerala for the 4th time, no new case was reported on Saturday, September 16. 11 more samples were tested negative. 21 persons are in isolation at Kozhikode medical college, said Kerala Health Minister Veena George.

The minister further stated the current priority of Kerala to be tracing out people “who came in contact with the last person tested positive”. 19 teams were already constituted for tracing people belonging to the contact list.

The source from where patient zero (index case) got infected is yet to be found. The Health Minister reported about seeking police aid to trace back the diseased patient zero”s mobile locations to get a clear picture about the source.

No new case of Nipah is reported on Saturday so far and 94 samples which were earlier taken for testing came out negative, which is a relief. All the patients include 9 year old son of one of the first person to test positive is in a stable condition though he is on a ventilator. However, the number of people infected is suspected to scale up as the source of the breakout is yet to be determined.

The minister also said that the Centre has asked the state to explore possibility of getting new version of antibody as the monoclonal antibody, the only viable therapeutic for the deadly virus is 50-60 percent stable.

She also added under present condition, the patients under treatment do not require it as per the doctors.

As a method to tackle the breakout, all educational institutions including professional colleges and tuition centres were closed for a week. Classes will be taken online until 24th September.

29 individuals from the neighbouring districts were listed under the contact list of those who tested positive. Among which 22 are from Malappuram district, 3 from Kannur, 3 from Trissur and 1 from Wayanad. Karanataka and Tamil Nadu asked to refrain from unncessary travelling to the Nipah effectes areas.