Nipah virus outbreak: Kerala gets antibody, mobile lab to combat the deadly virus

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Nipah virus. The stability of the antiviral was discussed with a central expert committee, Kerala health minister Veena George said. "Further steps or course of action would be decided by the expert committee," George referred to consultations between the state government and the Union health ministry.

The ICMR's mBSL-3, the first biosafety level-3 containment mobile laboratory of South Asia will help early testing and detection of the infection at the district itself. The mobile laboratory was set up in February last year to investigate newly emerging and re-emerging viral infections that are highly infectious and are potentially lethal for human beings. Also, a fully-equipped mobile virology testing laboratory of the Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology (RGCB) was dispatched to the northern Kerala district to strengthen virus testing and detection.

This is the fourth time the viral infection has been confirmed in the state. In 2018 and 2021 it was detected in Kozhikode and in 2019 in Ernakulam. The m102.4 monoclonal antibody, an experimental therapeutic, was imported during the 2018 Nipah outbreak in Kozhikode for the treatment of infected patients, on compassionate grounds.

It was not used back then, as by the time it arrived, the outbreak had ended. Meanwhile, Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare Dr Bharati Pravin Pawar has reviewed the steps taken for the containment of the Nipah outbreak and visited NIV, Pune to take stock of preparations. Kerala health minister said in the State Assembly that there was no need to be apprehensive about the Nipah outbreak in Kozhikode but caution needs to be exercised by people as they go about their daily activities.