The medical condition of the 23-year-old man who tested positive for Nipah virus infection in Kochi has improved considerably and he has begun walking without support, the district administration said in it’s latest bulletin on Monday.
The patient, who continues to receive treatment at a private hospital in the city, was admitted on May 30 with encephalitis-like symptoms and later tested positive for the deadly virus after his serum samples were sent to the National Institute for Virology (NiV), Pune. The victim is a native of Paravoor town in Ernakulam district and is a student of an institute near Thodupuzha in Idukki district.
Besides him, eight other patients are currently admitted to the isolation ward at the Kalamassery Medical College in Ernakulam. Their condition continues to be stable.
The serum samples of five patients, including those at the isolation ward in Ernakulam, have been sent for further testing to the NiV. Last week, all the samples sent to the institute tested negative, bringing a huge relief for the state administration.
At present, the names of 329 people continue to be on the contact list of the state’s health department, out of which 52 are in the ‘high risk’ category.
This is the second time the virus has made its presence felt in the state. Last year, the virus had claimed 17 lives when it was first reported in Kozhikode and Malappuram districts.
In a bid to determine the source of the virus, an expert team from the NiV collected samples from 52 fruit-bats, considered to be the prime carriers of the virus, from Thodupuzha and Muttam areas. In subsequent days, more samples will be collected from other localities and sent for testing to the NiV.
