Thiruvananthapuram, Sep 15 (IANS) The Pune Virology Institute has confirmed the sample of a 23-year-old man from Kerala’s Malappuram district as Nipah virus positive.
State Health Minister Veena George said the sample of the deceased youth had tested positive for Nipah virus.
On Sunday, the department also released a list of 151 people who came in direct contact with the deceased youth.
“Three people in the contact list have shown symptoms of the virus,” the department said.
The deceased was a 23-year-old student who lived in Bengaluru. He hailed from Chembaram near Naduvath in Wandoor.
He died at a private hospital in Perinthalmanna.
The primary lab test conducted at Kozhikode Medical College was positive. Once the samples are confirmed as Nipah positive from the Pune Virology Lab, the Health Department will take further action following the protocol.
Tiruvalli Panchayat and Health Department officials held a meeting to assess the current situation in the area.
A health alert has been issued in Tiruvalli Panchayat and use of masks has been made compulsory.
Malappuram district health department officials told IANS that the deceased youth had recently returned from Bengaluru with a leg injury.
The youth subsequently developed fever and went to a clinic at Naduvath and then Wandoor in Malappuram.
He died on Sunday and his samples were sent to the Pune virology lab for testing for Nipah virus.
The doctors had injected the boy with monoclonal antibodies procured from Australia by the Indian Council of Medical Research, but the time limit for the injection of the antibodies had passed.
Though the medical board gave the administration the go-ahead as a life-saving measure, they could not save him.
Earlier on July 21, a 14-year-old boy died of Nipah virus in Malappuram district of Kerala.
The Nipah virus outbreak in 2018 killed 18 people.
–IANS
AKS/CBT
