Following directions of the Union Health Minister, Shri J P Nadda, a multi-disciplinary Central Team led by the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) is presently in Kerala constantly reviewing the situation of the Nipah Virus Disease.
After reviewing the cases of all the patients who have lost their lives, the Central High-level Team is of the view that the Nipah virus disease is not a major outbreak and is only a local occurrence. The Team has also further fine-tuned the draft guidelines, case definitions, advisory for healthcare workers, information to the general public, advisories for sample collection and transportation accordingly.
The Central Team held meetings with the District Collectors and the medical and para-medical staff of the hospitals today also to review the condition of the admitted patients and to consider further course of action to be taken to prevent the disease from spreading. The efforts taken so far for containment of the disease have been fruitful as the disease has not spread to new areas. The contact tracing strategy adopted has also been successful. It has been found that all the reported cases including the suspected cases had direct or indirect contact with the first casualty/his family prior to contacting the disease.
General awareness among the general public has been encouraging. They have been asked to follow safe hygiene practices, not to consume fruits/vegetables partly eaten by birds/animals and steps to be taken while going near the infected persons/areas. The State Government has also issued advisories in the vernacular. The continued round-the-clock presence of the Central and State Teams in the affected areas right from day one of the outbreak and the surveillance and preventive actions taken by them, have instilled confidence among the public.
The Team also reviewed/discussed with the hospitals the management and treatment of the patients. The treatment procedure adopted by the hospitals for the patients with specific/non-specific symptoms has been found effective. The suspect cases admitted in the Kozhikode Medical College and Trivandrum Medical College are under observation.
All healthcare workers have adopted safe practices for dealing with the patients. The Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare is closely monitoring the situation.
Details of cases and deaths, as on 24.5.2018, are as under:
Total number of confirmed cases: 14
Total number of suspected cases: 20
Total number of deaths: 12 (9 from Kozhikode and 3 from Malappuram)
The Central team includes Dr.Sujeet K Sing, Director, NCDC; Dr. S K Jain, Head Epidemiology, NCDC; Dr. P Ravindran, Director, Emergency Medical Relief (EMR);Dr Naveen Gupta, Head Zoonosis, NCDC; Dr Ashutosh Biswas, Prof Internal Medicine, AIIMS; Dr. Deepak Bhattacharya, Pulmonologist, Safdarjung Hospital along with two clinicians and one expert from Ministry of Animal Husbandry.
The NCDC team visited the house in Perambra from where the initial death was reported. The team found many bats housed in the well from where the family was drawing water. Some bats have been caught and have been sent for lab examination to confirm whether they are the cause of the disease or not. 60 different samples have been collected from the spot and sent for examination. There are two confirmed cases with history of contact with the index case. They were admitted in the Calicut Medical College Hospital and died due to Nipah virus.
The Ministry has mobilized a public health team from NCDC Branch Kozhikode to assess the extent of problem, for risk assessment and risk management. They are assisting the State Level Team already deployed at the epicentre. So far, seven patients have been admitted in Baby Memorial Hospital and in the Govt. Medical College at Kozhikode and at the Amrutha Medical College, Ernakulum.
