Ernakulam: A year after the Nipah outbreak in Kerala left 17 people dead, the state encountered a fresh scare of another outbreak as a man hospitalised in Ernakulam is suspected to have contracted the virus.
Kerala Health Minister KK Shylaja today confirmed that the 23-year-old student admitted to a private hospital is supected to have contracted the Nippah virus.
The student's samples have been sent to the National Institute of Virology in Alleppey and Pune.
Shylaja said that final confirmation can be done only after the verification results are out, adding that there was no need to panic. She also advised people showing any Nipah symptoms to immediately get admitted in a hospital.
She said all precautions have been taken and isolation wards set up at the Kalamassery Medical College Hospital in Kochi.
In view of the situation, the health secretary has called for an emergency meeting. The Health Minister, Health Director, and doctors from the Kozhikode Medical College will reportedly take part in the meeting.
The student, hailing from Ernakulam district, had studied in a college in Thodupuzha in Idukki and had stayed in Thrissur recently in connection with a camp.
According to Thrissur District Medical Officer, Dr Reena, the student was in Thrissur only for four days and had been suffering from fever.
There were 16 other students with him and six of them, who came in direct contact with him, are under observation, she said.
The Idukki district medical authorities said the college in Thodupuzha, where the student is studying, is also under observation.
According to state government figures, the Nipah virus had claimed 17 lives -- 14 in Kozhikode and three in neighbouring Malappuram in May last year.
