Kerala to begin research to develop Nipah drug soon

Research on developing a new drug for Nipah virus infection will soon begin in Kerala, Health Minister K.K. Shylaja has said.

She told the media here on Friday that the work for this purpose would begin at Government Medical College, Thiruvananthapuram, in association with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). The Community Medicine Department at the medical college would take the lead in the research. Manoj Mohanan of Duke University, North Carolina, among others, would assist the team. Soumya Swaminathan, Deputy Director General, World Health Organization, had been helping the government in discussions with experts around the world, Ms. Shylaja said.

‘Under control’

Meanwhile, the Minister said the infection had been under control now as the lab results of only one patient had turned positive in the past two days. Negative results had been reported for 21 samples sent to the Manipal Centre for Virus Research.

“However, that does not mean we can trivialise the issue. Steps have been taken to ensure protective gears for all those health staff who are attending to the admitted patients,” Ms. Shylaja said. She reiterated that all those who had turned positive for the virus infection had contracted it from hospitals when patients were undergoing treatment there. That means the transmission could happen only after the patients showed specific symptoms.

Medicine

The Minister said 50 dose of a human monoclonal antibody developed in Australia would be procured and tested if it could neutralise the effect of the virus in humans. The ICMR had written to the Queensland government in Australia for the purpose. The antibody has not been tested in humans so far. Ribavirin, an anti-viral drug, was already being administered to three patients undergoing treatment.