The health department has decided to provide counselling to the deceased boy's classmates. Special classes would be conducted online for the PTA to provide counselling.
Published Jul 22, 2024 | 2:52 PM ⚊ Updated Jul 22, 2024 | 2:52 PM
Nipah virus.
Kerala has tightened Nipah preventive measures after a 14-year-old boy from Chembrassery in Malappuram lost his life to the zoonotic disease at a hospital in the neighbouring Kozhikode district.
State Health Minister Veena George said at least 101 people were in the high-risk category. The laboratory test results of 13 people, who had come into contact with the boy, would be released on Monday, 22 July, she said.
The authorities have imposed restrictions in Malappuram’s Pandikkadu and Anakkayam panchayats, and 224 fever surveillance teams have been deployed to identify people with fever.
At Anakkayam, 80 teams, 144 teams in Pandikkad, were conducting house-to-house surveys.
The Animal Husbandry Department’s surveillance team was also conducting field inspections to monitor diseases in domestic animals.
Meanwhile, the health department has decided to provide counselling to the deceased boy’s classmates. Special classes would be conducted online for the school Parent-Teachers’ Association to provide counseling.
A meeting of MPs, MLAs, and other public representatives of Malappuram district has been scheduled for Monday afternoon.
The boy, who was undergoing treatment in Kozhikode, died of a cardiac arrest around 11.30 am on Sunday.
Minister George told the media that nine samples of the boy’s contacts were sent to the Virology Lab at Kozhikode Medical College and four to the Advanced Virology Institute at Thonnakkal in Thiruvananthapuram.
Of the 13 individuals, six were showing symptoms of the virus. Three of the individuals were secondary contacts.
Though the parents of the deceased boy did not show any symptoms, their samples, too, have been sent for testing.
Among those in the contact list included two individuals from Palakkad and four from Thiruvananthapuram.
The two individuals from Palakkad were healthcare workers at a private hospital, and the four from Thiruvananthapuram were those who arrived at Perinthalmanna for treatment.
The health department has so far prepared a list of 350 contacts, including 101 high-risk contacts. As many as 68 healthcare workers, too, have been included on the contact list.
Meanwhile, the private bus in which the boy travelled has been identified. The primary contact list of people on the bus was prepared with the help of CCTV visuals.
The authorities released a fresh route map of the index case.
July 11
Home to Chembraashery Bus Stop, CPIB Private Bus (6:50 am)
Bright Tuition Centre, Pandikkad (7:18 am – 8:30 am)
Returned home
July 12
At Home (7:50 am)
By auto to Dr. Vijayan’s Clinic (Clinic: 8:00 am – 8:30 am)
Return home by auto
July 13
Home to PKM Hospital by auto (7:50 am to 8:30 am – Children’s OP)
(8:30 am to 8:45 am – Casualty)
(8:45 am to 9:50 am – Observation Room)
(9:50 am to 10:15 am – Children’s OP)
(10:15 am to 10:30 am – Canteen)
July 14
At Home
July 15
Home to PKM Hospital by auto (7:15 am to 7:50 am – Casualty)
(7:50 am to 6:20 am – Hospital Ward)
By ambulance to Maulana Hospital (6:20 pm)
Maulana Hospital (6:50 pm to 8:10 pm – Casualty)
(8:10 pm to 8:50 pm – MRI Room)
(8:50 pm to 9:15 pm – Emergency Department)
From 9:15 pm on July 15 to 7:37 pm on July 17 – Pediatric ICU
July 17
From 7:37 pm to 8:20 pm – MRI Room
From 8:20 pm on July 17 to 5:30 pm
on July 19 – Pediatric ICU
July 19
At 5:30 pm, transfer by ambulance from Maulana Hospital to MIMS Hospital, Kozhikode.
Meanwhile, reports said the boy might have consumed wild hog fruits, possibly contaminated by the Nipah virus (NiV), on 6 July. South First could not independently verify the reports.
Previous instances of Nipah in Kerala indicated that fruit bats, also known as flying foxes, might have spread the disease.
Nipah outbreaks have been reported in Kozhikode district in 2018, 2021, and 2023, and in Ernakulam district in 2019, and the presence of Nipah virus antibodies had been detected in fruit bats in Kozhikode, Wayanad, Idukki, Malappuram, and Ernakulam districts.
The first outbreak in South India — and third in India — was reported on 19 May 2018 from Perambra in the Kozhikode district. As many as 17 deaths and 18 confirmed cases were reported till 1 June 2018.
Nipah outbreaks were earlier reported in West Bengal in 2001 and 2007.
Human infections would range from asymptomatic infection to acute respiratory infection (mild, severe), and fatal encephalitis.
Infected people initially develop symptoms including fever, headaches, myalgia (muscle pain), vomiting, fatigue, cough, difficulty in breathing, and sore throat.
“This can be followed by dizziness, drowsiness, altered consciousness, and neurological signs that indicate acute encephalitis,” the WHO said.
“Some people can also experience atypical pneumonia and severe respiratory problems, including acute respiratory distress. Encephalitis and seizures occur in severe cases, progressing to coma within 24 to 48 hours,” it added.
The risk of transmission would be higher if respiratory symptoms are present.
The incubation period has been found to range from four to 14 days. However, an incubation period as long as 45 days, too, has been reported.
“The case fatality rate is estimated at 40% to 75%. This rate can vary by outbreak depending on local capabilities for epidemiological surveillance and clinical management,” the WHO said.
Earlier, the state government opened control rooms in the wake of detecting Nipah.
(Edited by Majnu Babu)
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