Kerala’s Health Minister Veena George, on Wednesday, October 25, said that tests conducted on samples of bats in Wayanad district had confirmed the presence of the Nipah virus. The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) had passed on the results, she said. Bat samples collected by the ICMR from Sulthan Bathery and Manathavady areas in Wayanad district in September had tested positive for the virus. Speaking to reporters, Veena said that there was no cause for worry. "The need of the hour is that alert health professionals should leave nothing to chance when they engage in the routine work of examining patients. There should be a cautious approach," she said.
The infections, which were reported in September this year, resulted in the death of two people in Kozhikode, a district 86 km away from Wayanad. Six people were infected with the virus.
Experts that the TNM spoke to in September said that there was no proof to link the bats in Kozhikode to the spread of the virus. Unlike in the Nipah infections of other countries like Malaysia and Bangladesh, where the source was identified – pigs in Malaysia and bats in Bangladesh – there has been no definite proof linking the spread of the disease from animals to humans in Kerala. This had been the case from the time Nipah infections were first detected in Kerala five years ago.
Minister Veena said that Kozhikode will complete the 42nd day of incubation on October 26. As many as 1,288 people in the contact list of the infected persons were isolated, and 1,186 samples were tested, she said. The Minister added that the Kerala One Health Centre for Nipah Research has begun functioning at the Kozhikode Medical College for institutionalising the work.