A 24-year-old student has succumbed to the Nipah virus in the southern Indian state of Kerala, according to reports from a local medical official on Monday. The reports added that the 151 people who came into contact with the victim have been put under observation to ward the spread of the deadly virus.
This has made it the second death caused by Nipah in Kerala since July.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has classified Nipah as a priority pathogen because of its capacity of triggering an epidemic. As yet, there is no vaccine to prevent infection and no treatment to cure it.
Several areas of Kerala are among the flagged places most at risk globally, for outbreaks of the virus, according to a Reuters investigation. Nipah, which comes from fruit bats and animals such as pigs, can lead to a lethal, brain-swelling fever in humans.
The student began showing fever symptoms on September 4 and died five days later, R. Renuka, a district medical officer in the town of Malappuram, northern Kerala said.
Afterwards, the testing of a blood sample from the victim sent to the National Institute of Virology in Pune confirmed a Nipah infection on September 9, Renuka added.
Almost 151 people are currently being monitored for symptoms after they were found to be on the primary contact list of the victim, who had come from Bengaluru.
Nipah has been attributed to the deaths of dozens of people in Kerala since its first appearance in the state in 2018.
Mpox, now it’s Nipah.. May God help us all.. ???? The world is becoming crazier daily with one pandemic after another.