Thiruvananthapuram: Health Minister Kerala Veena George on Wednesday said antibodies against the Nipah virus were found in a sample of two car varieties by the National Institute of Virology (NIV) in Pune, giving trust in speculation that the bat is a deadly infection spreader.
The minister, talking to reporters, said NIV Pune had collected a sample of various bat varieties of Kozhikode, where one example of a nipah infection was reported this year with a 12-year-old patient who gave up on the virus in September 5.
He said the test two mammalian varieties showed existence IgG antibodies against nipah.
The remaining samples are also being tested by the lab and the results will be available soon, the Minister added.
The Ministry of Health with a high warning since September 4 when the 12-year-old boy was found infected with the Nipah virus.
Three-km-radius of his house was corrected and housing-to-home supervision was done and the sample was tested.
The first outbreak of Nipah virus disease in South India was reported from Kozhikode District in Kerala on May 19, 2018 and there were 17 deaths and 18 cases confirmed on June 1, 2018.
The outbreak was contained and stated on June 10, 2018.
After that, in June 2019, a Nipah’s new case was reported from Kochi and the only patient was a 23-year-old student who later recovered.
By reporting this year’s case, it is the fifth time the virus has been detected in India and the third in Kerala.