India Just Declared an End to Deadly Nipah Outbreak With a Music Video
Bye bye Nipah!
Source: Youtube
In a major relief to the medical community as well as citizens, Kerala was declared Nipah-free on Sunday.
The outbreak of the mysterious Nipah virus that killed 17 people in the southern state of Kerala ocurred in May.
Initially, three people were reported dead and soon after, health officials across the state were on a mission to identify and quarantine anyone who might have had contact with the lethal pathogen.
Nipah is a formidable disease to contend with; in which the virus attacks the brain and has the potential of making a healthy person comatose in barely a day's time.
The infection manifests itself in a range of symptoms including fever, headache, confusion and disorientation. More severe symptoms include acute respiratory syndrome, in which the lungs cannot get enough oxygen to the body, and fatal encephalitis.
Moreover, there's no vaccine or cure — just supportive treatment.
According to researchers, Nipah can be contracted through infected bats, pigs or humans.
A total of 19 people fell prey to the virus, and only two ever recovered from the disease.
Given the macabre fallout of a possibility of such a deadly epidemic hitting a country of 1.3 billion people, it only makes sense to celebrate the end of the deadly outbreak in style.
And that's exactly what India just did.
Kozhikode, the third-largest city in India, was declared Nipah-free after no new cases were reported after May 31, and to celebrate this, musicians and filmmakers got together to make a wonderful Bollywood-style music video about the life-threatening virus.
The video was shot over three days, and all the artists provided their services for free.
"Don't forget that this is Kozhikode," said the lyrics. "We beat the contamination with strength and determination. We won't break down. We won't ever tire. Bye, bye Nipah!"
The video director, who goes by the name of Regilesh Star Voice told CNN in an interview, "During the period of the Nipah virus, a majority of the local people were feeling lonely, and everybody was afraid. We made this music video dedicated to the public to show how proud we are of having tackled this crisis."
Composed by Sai Balan and written by Shaji Kumar, the song was an attempt to honour the health professionals who risk their lives in order to save others and to also reclaim the public spaces that were shrouded in fear and despair because of the virus outbreak.
With scenes from malls, the beach, the emerald-green backwaters, the main streets and restaurants, the video offers a slice of everyday life in Kozhikode, a marked change from the subdued condition of the past two months.
The outbreak of the mysterious Nipah virus that killed 17 people in the southern state of Kerala ocurred in May.
Initially, three people were reported dead and soon after, health officials across the state were on a mission to identify and quarantine anyone who might have had contact with the lethal pathogen.
Nipah is a formidable disease to contend with; in which the virus attacks the brain and has the potential of making a healthy person comatose in barely a day's time.
The infection manifests itself in a range of symptoms including fever, headache, confusion and disorientation. More severe symptoms include acute respiratory syndrome, in which the lungs cannot get enough oxygen to the body, and fatal encephalitis.
Moreover, there's no vaccine or cure — just supportive treatment.
According to researchers, Nipah can be contracted through infected bats, pigs or humans.
A total of 19 people fell prey to the virus, and only two ever recovered from the disease.
Given the macabre fallout of a possibility of such a deadly epidemic hitting a country of 1.3 billion people, it only makes sense to celebrate the end of the deadly outbreak in style.
And that's exactly what India just did.
Kozhikode, the third-largest city in India, was declared Nipah-free after no new cases were reported after May 31, and to celebrate this, musicians and filmmakers got together to make a wonderful Bollywood-style music video about the life-threatening virus.
The video was shot over three days, and all the artists provided their services for free.
"Don't forget that this is Kozhikode," said the lyrics. "We beat the contamination with strength and determination. We won't break down. We won't ever tire. Bye, bye Nipah!"
The video director, who goes by the name of Regilesh Star Voice told CNN in an interview, "During the period of the Nipah virus, a majority of the local people were feeling lonely, and everybody was afraid. We made this music video dedicated to the public to show how proud we are of having tackled this crisis."
Composed by Sai Balan and written by Shaji Kumar, the song was an attempt to honour the health professionals who risk their lives in order to save others and to also reclaim the public spaces that were shrouded in fear and despair because of the virus outbreak.
With scenes from malls, the beach, the emerald-green backwaters, the main streets and restaurants, the video offers a slice of everyday life in Kozhikode, a marked change from the subdued condition of the past two months.