Nipah suspected in Mangaluru, sample sent to Pune for testing

Mangaluru, 14 Sep 2021 [Fik/News Sources]:  A week after a 12-year-old boy succumbed to the Nipah virus in Kerala’s Kozhikode district, a person in Mangaluru was suspected of the same infection in Karnataka’s Dakshina Kannada district on Monday.

According to health commissioner K V Trilok Chandra, the person who works as a lab technician in Mangaluru had not shown any severe symptoms till the sample was sent for testing at the National Institute of Virology (NIV) in Pune.

“We need to be alert though but there is no need to panic. The person has not reported any severe symptoms so far,” he said.

Further, an official from the Dakshina Kannada district administration identified the person to be associated with Wenlock district hospital. “He has no direct travel history to Kerala recently even though he was in contact with someone who returned from there. The suspected patient, however, had travelled to Goa recently,” the official said.

Earlier, the Karnataka Health Department had strengthened its surveillance and preparedness against a Nipah outbreak in the districts bordering Kerala. The government’s main focus is on Dakshina Kannada, Udupi, Mysuru, Kodagu, and Chamarajanagar.

District administrations have been asked to monitor arrivals from Kerala for symptoms like fever, altered mental status, severe weakness, headache, respiratory distress, cough, vomiting, muscle pain, convulsion, and diarrhoea.

Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai had also sought a report from health officials on the possible impact of Nipah virus infections in the state. He had announced that necessary action will be taken to control it.

Courtesy:Indian Express