Health officials are seen at the isolation ward of Ernakulam Medical College in Kochi, India on June 4, 2019. India's federal health ministry Tuesday reviewed public health measures for deadly Nipah virus after a 23-year-old man admitted in a private hospital in southern India state of Kerala was found tested positive for the virus, officials said. (Xinhua/Stringer)
by Peerzada Arshad Hamid
NEW DELHI, June 4 (Xinhua) -- India's federal health ministry Tuesday reviewed public health measures for deadly Nipah virus after a 23-year-old man admitted in a private hospital in southern India state of Kerala was found tested positive for the virus, officials said.
The meeting was convened by Indian Health Minister Harsh Vardhan in New Delhi and attended by top officers of health ministry.
"Following confirmation of a suspect case of Nipah virus disease by National Institute of Virology (NIV) Pune, an urgent meeting was convened by the Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare, Harsh Vardhan at his residence this morning," a health ministry spokesman said.
According to ministry officials, Vardhan talked to local health minister of Kerala and assured full support from his ministry.
"The federal health minister Harsh Vardhan spoke to the health minister of Kerala K.K. Shailaja, and discussed the current situation and assured all support from the central government," the spokesman said.
The case was detected in Ernakulam district, about 213 km north of Thiruvananthapuram, the capital city of Kerala.
The federal health ministry has already rushed a team of six officers to Kerala.
"The team has reached for epidemiological investigation protocol, contact tracing for early detection of suspects, testing protocols for suspects and review of isolation facilities," the health ministry officials said.
A control room was established and National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) strategic health operations center has been activated.
Officials said a team from NIV for conducting tests on bats for Nipah virus would reach Kerala on Tuesday.
"We are also in touch with wildlife department to seek their help for subjecting the bats for testing of the virus," health minister told media.
Meanwhile, the Kerala government is preparing a list of people who were in contact with the infected youth. The government has so far listed out at least 86 people who he came in contact with recently and put them under surveillance.
Authorities have cautioned people to follow instructions from health department in wake of detection of the case and urged them not to panic.
"While we need to be cautious, it is no cause for panic. We have ramped up a series of measures to tackle the problem," Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in a statement said. "Contact tracing, case isolation, quality care and community engagement are being done diligently. Care must be taken to not spread rumours over social media," the minister said.
Last year, 17 people died from Nipah infection in state's Kozhikode and Malappuram districts.
According to WHO, Nipah virus infection is a newly emerging zoonosis that causes severe disease in both animals and humans. The natural host of the virus are fruit bats of the Pteropodidae Family, Pteropus genus.
Typically, the human infection presents as an encephalitic syndrome marked by fever, headache, drowsiness, disorientation, mental confusion and coma, which can potentially lead to death.
