The cause of death of two people, ostensibly suffering from fever, in Kozhikode has now been confirmed to be due to the Nipah virus (NiV), spread by fruit bats and which caused severe disease in both animals and humans, a top official said yesterday.
Kerala Health secretary Rajiv Sadanandan said they have now got the confirmation from the National Institute of Virology, Pune.
‘A central team of the Indian Council of Medical Research is arriving at Kozhikode today. There is no reason to any panic as this can be managed and we have already started our work towards that. There was a similar issue in Bangladesh and it has been managed well. We have already informed the Centre about this,’ he said.
While three members of a family at Perambra in Kozhikode died within weeks after what seemed to be common fever aggravated quickly, two more family members were being treated at the Medical College hospital and one of them has also tested positive. Two more deaths, due to fever, were reported from Kozhikode yesterday.
Earlier in the day, state Health Minister K K Shailaja said the cause of death of the three family members was being ascertained.
‘The samples were first sent to a laboratory in Manipal and it suggested that it was a rare virus... after that for detailed tests, the samples have been sent to the National Institute of Virology and the results are awaited...,” she told media at Kochi.
Transmission of Nipah virus takes place through direct contact with infected bats  or from other NiV-infected people and people have been also cautioned that they should not consume fruits that have fallen to the ground.
Meanwhile fever clinics and special wards are being set up in private and government hospitals and a seven-member task force has been formed to monitor the overall activities. This was decided at a meeting chaired by the collector at the civil station in Kozhikode yesterday.
R L Saritha, director, health services, told the media that a single window system would be put in place to co-ordinate the works and a senior doctor in the department of emergency medicine at the Government Medical College Hospital would be in charge of it. A control room has been opened at the district medical officer’s office.
A training programme is being held for doctors in both government and private hospitals in association with the Indian Medical Association.

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