NEW DELHI, June 1, 2018 (BSS/XINHUA) – The death toll in Nipah virus
outbreak in India has risen to 17, with a death of a 25-year-old man in the
southern state of Kerala, officials said Friday.
“The latest death took place in the state’s Kozhikode district, the
epicentre of the Nipah virus outbreak, Thursday night, while another person
tested positive for the infection at a state-run hospital there,” a health
official said.
The death came a day after a 56-year-old man and a 28-year-old youth died
at the Kozhikode Medical College and Hospital even as the Indian Health
Ministry had claimed last month to have contained the deadly virus. Apart
from the 17 deaths in Kerala’s Kozhikode and Mallapuram districts, some 94
people have been quarantined in their homes while 17 others are under
treatment in hospitals. “All steps to prevent the spread of the virus have
been taken,” state Health Minister K.K. Shailaja said.
Health officials have identified a bat-infested well in a house in
Kozhikode district as the likely epicentre of the outbreak of Nipah virus in
this country.
This is the third outbreak of Nipah virus in India. Two other outbreaks of
the virus were reported in 2001 and 2007, respectively, in eastern state of
West Bengal that shares its border with Bangladesh, claiming 50 lives.
Health experts say there is no vaccine for the virus that causes fever and
breathlessness in affected patients as initial symptoms, and only intensive
care can help.