Centre lauds State’s efforts to control Nipah outbreak

The Centre is satisfied with the State Health Department’s efforts to control the outbreak of Nipah virus infection in Kozhikode district and the precautionary measures taken to prevent the spread of the disease to other areas.

A multi-disciplinary Central team led by the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), after reviewing the cases, has stated that the Nipah virus infection is not a major outbreak and is only a local occurrence. The team, which is in Kozhikode, has been in the forefront to “draft the guidelines, case definitions, advisory for healthcare workers, information to the general public, advisories for sample collection and transportation,” officials of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare have said.

They said the contact-tracing strategy adopted had been successful, especially in Kozhikode, Malappuram and other districts of the State. Preliminary investigations revealed that all the reported cases, including the suspected cases, had direct or indirect contact with the first victim or his family prior to contacting the disease.

Detecting the virus

A major achievement of the Health Department was that it was able to detect the infection after a second member, Mohammed Salih of the family in Changaroth grama panchayat, near Perambra, died due to the Nipah virus. Mohammed Salih had shown similar symptoms as his brother, Mohammed Sabith, who succumbed to the disease on May 5.

Doctors said the National Institute of Virology, Pune, had said that the outbreak of Nipah virus in the Kozhikode was limited to a small geographic area and there was no threat of an epidemic in the State. Only fruit-eating bats are known reservoirs for the virus. Besides, the virus remains an enzootic disease and only a very small proportion of bats secretes the virus.

General awareness

An official statement of the Ministry of Health said the general awareness among the public was encouraging. The public had been asked to follow safe hygiene practices, not to consume fruits and vegetables partly eaten by birds or animals and made aware of steps to be taken while going near infected persons or areas.

“The State government had also issued advisories in the vernacular. The continued round-the-clock presence of the Central and State teams in the affected areas right from day one of the outbreak and the surveillance and preventive actions taken by them, have instilled confidence among the public,” it said.

Treatment

The Central team that took stock stock of the situation said the treatment procedure adopted by hospitals, including the Kozhikode Government Medical College, for patients with specific and non-specific symptoms had been found effective. All healthcare workers had also adopted safe practices for dealing with the patients.