|
 A 23-year-old student tested positive for the virus, which is
transmitted to humans through direct contact with infected bats,
pigs or other people.
Kerala Health Minister K.K. Shailaja told reporters that four other
people had Nipah-like symptoms. Another 80 people were being
monitored, including some who were in close contact with the
student.
Shailaja said isolation wards had been set up across the state,
where 19 cases were reported last year.
India's national health and wildlife ministries are working to test
and identify bats with the virus, Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said
in New Delhi.
"There is no need for panic," he told reporters.
There is no vaccine for the virus which can cause encephalitis, or
inflammation of the brain, according to the World Health
Organization (WHO). It recommends treatment through supportive care.
[to top of second column] |
Nipah is on the WHO's research and development "priority pathogen"
list alongside Ebola, Zika, MERS, Lassa and Crimean-Congo
haemorrhagic fever.
The virus was first identified in 1999 during an outbreak of illness
affecting pig farmers and others in close contact with pigs in
Malaysia and Singapore.
More than 100 people died in that outbreak that year, and about a
million pigs were killed to try to halt its spread.
(Reporting by Munsif Vengattil; Editing by Krishna N. Das and Darren
Schuettler)
[© 2019 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2019 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content. |
