Karnataka: On Monday, a person in Mangalore was suspected of Nipah virus in Karnataka’s Dakshina Kannada. This happened a week after a 12-year-old boy succumbed to the same infection in Kerala’s Kozhikode district. The person who works as a lab technician in Mangalore had not shown any severe symptoms till the sample were sent for testing at the National Institute of Virology (NIV) in Pune, according to health commissioner K V Trilok Chandra.
An official from the Dakshina Kannada district administration said the person is associated with Wenlock district hospital. The official said,”He has no direct travel history to Kerala recently even though he was in contact with someone who returned from there. The suspected patient, however, had travelled to Goa recently.” The Karnataka Health Department had strengthened its monitoring and preparedness against a Nipah outbreak in the districts bordering Kerala earlier. The main focus of the government is on Dakshina Kannada, Udupi, Mysuru, Kodagu, and Chamarajanagar.
District administrations have been asked for surveillance of travellers from Kerala having symptoms like fever, altered mental status, severe weakness, respiratory distress, headache,cough, vomiting, muscle pain, convulsion, and diarrhoea. Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai had also sought a report from health officials on the possible impact of Nipah virus infections in the state. He had declared that necessary action will be taken to control it.