From September 12 to fifteen, India’s well being ministry reported six laboratory-confirmed Nipah virus instances, together with two deaths, in Kozhikode district within the southern state of Kerala.

Aside from the primary case, whose supply of an infection is unknown, the opposite instances had been household and hospital contacts of the primary, the WHO mentioned in an replace on the outbreak.

As of September 27, 1,288 contacts of the confirmed instances had been traced, together with high-risk contacts and healthcare employees, who’re beneath quarantine and monitoring for 21 days, the WHO mentioned.

Since September 12, 387 samples have been examined, of which six instances had been optimistic for Nipah virus an infection, whereas all remaining samples examined detrimental, mentioned the UN’s well being company.

“Since September 15, no new cases have been detected,” it mentioned.

Fruit bats are the pure hosts for the virus. It spreads to people by way of contact with contaminated animals corresponding to bats and pigs. Nipah will also be caught from an contaminated individual, although this route is much less frequent, the WHO says.

The incubation interval — the time from an infection to the onset of signs — ranges from round 4 to 14 days, however has been reported to be so long as 45 days, based on the WHO.

Symptoms embody intense fever, vomiting and a respiratory an infection, however extreme instances can contain seizures and encephalitis, an irritation of the mind, and end in a coma.

The virus was first recognized in 1998 after it unfold amongst pig farmers in Malaysia.

“This is the sixth outbreak of Nipah virus in India since 2001,” the WHO mentioned.

In 2018, at the very least 17 individuals died after being contaminated by the virus in Kerala.

The WHO lists Nipah as one in all its precedence ailments that pose “the greatest public health risk due to their epidemic potential” and the place there’s “no or insufficient countermeasures”.

rjm/giv