Nipah From Guava? Probe Underway to Find If Kerala Patient Got Virus From Eating the Fruit
A central team of medical professionals said they are looking into whether the only confirmed patient of Nipah in Kerala got it after eating guava.
Kochi, June 13: A central team of medical professionals are in Kerala to investigate if the 21-year-old patient, who tested positive for the deadly Nipah virus earlier this month, got it after eating guava. The team said they are looking into whether the only confirmed patient of the virus got it after eating the fruit, even though the state Health Minister has expressed ignorance about it. According to reports, the decision to investigate the cause of the virus after the patient- a 23-year-old young student, admitted that he had eaten guavas last month.
On Thursday, another eight-member team of scientists from two top Virology Centres in the country arrived in Ernakulam to find the source of the deadly Nipah Virus (NiV) in Kerala. According to a tweet by ANI, the team of scientists from Institute of Advanced Virology in Kerala and National Institute of Virology in Pune reached North Paravur, Ernakulam to collect samples from fruit eating bats. Fruit bats have been identified as the main source and carriers of the deadly Nipah virus. Nipah Virus Can Be Beaten By the Drug Used to Treat Ebola: Reports.
Earlier this week, the National Institute of Virology (NIV) in Pune had collected three blood samples from pigs and about 30 samples from bats from Thodupuzha in Idukki district of Kerala to ascertain the cause of the spread of the virus. After 17 deaths in Kerala in 2018, experts had collected samples from bats in the area. However, the office of state Health Minister KK Shailaja told IANS that it was not aware of the new investigation, as all the monitoring of the present outbreak was being done from Kochi. Nipah Virus: How Does the Infection Spread? What You Can Do to Prevent It.
Earlier this month, a 21-year-old student from Ernakulam in Kerala, who was tested positive of the virus, is recovering well but is still under close medical observation. After the patient was tested positive for Nipah Virus by the National Institute of Virology (NIV) in Pune, three nurses who treated him, a friend and another person have been kept in isolation. Apart from them, 31 other people were kept in observation.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 13, 2019 04:01 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).