Several deaths for Nipah virus in India
Health officials in India reported that in the southern state of Kerala, in the Asian country, a dozen people have died in the districts of Kozhikode and Malappuram in recent days, after being hospitalized for high fever. Around 25 others infected are under treatment in government hospitals. The authorities created a central team to help the state government with the wave of deaths.
The authorities launched a health alert in several districts in view of the seriousness of the situation. The Indian Health Minister, J.P. Nadda created a central team, led by the Director of the National Center for Disease Control, who is going to visit Kerala and help the state government with the alarming situation. An isolation room was opened in Kozhikode Medical College and Hospital and a special force was formed to deal with the situation.
On the other hand, 94 people, who came into contact with the dead, were quarantined as a precaution.
Health officials said that the state government is up in arms to confront the deadly virus outbreak. On the other hand, they reported that the state government canceled the licenses of doctors and paramedical personnel.
Sheela Mathew, doctor responsible for the department of infectious diseases of Kozhikode Medical College, told international media that Nipah is a contagious virus transmitted by fluids such as saliva and blood, making it easy to spread. The main symptoms are high fever, headache and altered behavior, and, in a more advanced state, the disease can cause encephalitis.
The specialist also explained that there is no vaccine against the disease and doctors can only deal with the treatment of symptoms. For now, the mortality rate is very high, higher than 70 percent.
The Nipah virus is an emerging infectious disease that broke out in Malaysia in 1999. First, it affected domestic animals and then humans. The organism that causes the disease is a ribonucleic acid virus of the Paramyxoviridae family, genus Henipavirus.
In February, the World Health Organization included Nipah virus in the list of priority diseases to investigate, due to its epidemic potential, along with Ebola and Zika. It is closely related to the Hendra virus and, according to the international organization, its main transmission vector is fruit bats. This is the first time that the Nipah virus is declared in Kerala and the third time in India. The virus usually persists in rural Bangladesh, where it has cost the lives of more than a hundred people since it was first identified in 2001.
