Nipah outbreak: Centre sends teams to Kerala with lab units
New Delhi: In view of Nipah virus outbreak in Kerala, the Union minister of state (health) Bharati Pravin Pawar reviewed the steps taken by the Centre and the state governments to contain the spread of the virus. She visited the ICMR’s National Institute of Virology (NIV) Pune to discuss the matter with the scientists who are closely monitoring the situation. The Central government has deputed a high-level team from NIV with mobile units equipped with BSL-3 laboratories to Kerala’s Kozhikode to conduct on-ground testing.
Meanwhile, a multi-disciplinary team led by Dr Mala Chhabra has been deputed by Union health ministry to support the state in public health measures to deal with this outbreak. Pawar in a social media post said that the government is monitoring the situation and necessary steps are being taken for prevention. She assured that the health ministry and the ICMR-NIV is monitoring the issue on a daily basis and all arrangements are being made by the central government to deal with the viral outbreak.
“A high-level team from the Centre and ICMR-NIV with mobile units equipped with Bio-Safety Laboratory BSL-3 have already reached Kozhikode and will be doing on-ground testing. The affected gram panchayats in the Kozhikode area have been declared as quarantine zones," Pawar said. Meanwhile, scientists at NIV are in the process of isolating the strain of the current Nipah virus strain in the backdrop of concerns about it being from Bangladesh.
The present outbreak in Kerala has also prompted the state and central governments for surveillance and survey of bats. Nipah virus is a high-risk pathogen which can cause fatal infections in humans. The clinical signs and symptoms are moderate to high-grade fever, headache,
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