Nipah virus scare officially over in Kerala's Kozhikode

The four patients have tested double negative

Kozhikode saw two Nipah deaths and six positive cases

Updated: Sep 29th, 2023

Kozhikode | Image: Wikimedia Commons

With the last of the four patients finally testing double negative, the Nipah scare in Kerala's Kozhikode is finally over, state health minister Veena George said today. 

One of the patients to be discharged was a nine-year-old boy whose father had succumbed to the virus last month.

It was during the second week of September that the medical authorities in Kozhikode suspected an outbreak of Nipah after two patients died of the symptoms.

Following this, several areas of the district, especially where the suspected outbreak surfaced, was turned into a containment zone and for almost a week all educational institutions in the district went into online mode.

Two deaths in Kozhikode

Kozhikode saw two Nipah deaths and six positive cases. Over 950 samples were sent for testing and since the end of last week, all the protocols were being lifted and finally the district is free from restrictions.

Meanwhile, National Institute of Virology officials from Pune are continuing their tests on samples collected from bats as they are yet to identify the cause of this latest outbreak.

Kerala and Nipah virus

The present cases were reported about 15 km from where the initial Nipah virus outbreak in southern India was first identified in Kozhikode in May 2018 and then again in 2021. 

Nipah virus infection is basically a zoonotic disease and can be transmitted from animals to humans, besides, it can spread through contaminated food or through contact. 

(Source: IANS)

-Edited for style

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