Nipah outbreak ‘localised’, bats likely hosts; toll 10

Aditi Tandon

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, May 22

Bats could have been hosting the deadly Nipah virus that killed three persons of a family at Perambara in Kerala’a Kozhikode with fatalities rising to 10 today even as two others were critical.

Visiting central experts from the National Disease Control Centre said they found bats infesting the well from where the family was drawing water. “The team visited the house in Perambra from where the first death was reported. Some bats have been caught and sent for lab examination to confirm if they caused the disease. In all, 60 samples have been sent,” a government statement said, adding the infection appeared localised and containment would prevent further spread.

“Since all contacts are under observation and steps to avoid exposure through animal vectors like pigs have been taken, there is no reason to panic,” the Health Ministry said. The WHO has described it as an emerging infectious disease of public health importance in South-East Asia region.

WHO experts say the infection spreads when infected bats shed the virus in their excretion and secretion such as saliva, urine, semen and excreta. NiV is known to be highly contagious among pigs and spreads by coughing. Direct contact with infected pigs caused major transmissions in humans during the 1999 Malaysian outbreak.

Drinking of fresh date palm sap, possibly contaminated by fruit bats, during winter could have caused indirect transmission of Nipah virus to humans, says the WHO.

About Nipah virus

• Derives its name from Malaysian village where it was first discovered
• Fruit bats of genus Pteropus are identified as its natural reservoirs

Affected regions worldwide 

So far, NiV has infected 477 people and killed 252 since 1998 with outbreaks in Bangladesh, India and Singapore; India has reported human-to-human transmission in 2001

Past outbreaks in India 

Siliguri (West Bengal) in Feb 2001 
66 cases and 45 deaths
Nadia (West Bengal) in April 2007
5 cases, all succumbed

Symptoms 

Symptoms are similar to influenza — fever and muscle pain. Inflammation of the brain can occur, leading to disorientation or coma. Even Encephalitis can happen. Magnetic resonance of the brain helps differentiate Nipah encephalitis from other encephalitis

Treatment

• No effective treatment for NiV infection, but ribavarin may alleviate symptoms of nausea, vomiting, convulsions
• Treatment mostly focuses on managing fever and neurological symptoms; severely ill need to be hospitalised
• Human-to-human transmission has been reported in recent outbreaks, demonstrating a risk of transmission from infected patients to healthcare workers who need to wear protective equipment

‘You Look after our kids’ — Dying nurse’s last words to hubby

Thiruvananthapuram: “I am almost on the way...You should look after our children well,” was the heart-wrenching message from a dying nurse in Kerala who succumbed to the rare Nipah virus infection. The emotional message scribbled by 28-year-old Lini Puthussery in a brief note in Malayalam to her husband Sajeesh minutes before she died yesterday has gone viral in the social media, leaving people teary-eyed. A nursing assistant with Perambra Taluk Hospital in Kozhikode, Lini got exposed to the virus while treating affected patients. Besides her husband, who works in Bahrain, Lini leaves behind two sons aged five and two.

In the letter to Sajeesh, Lini expressed her pain and anguish she could not see him again. Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan took to Facebook to mourn the death.  PTI