The staff of health department packing bat for checking the presence of Nipah virus by wearing safety masks as a precautionary measure after the 'Nipah' virus outbreak in Kozhikode district of India's southern state Kerala on May 21, 2018. (Xinhua/Stringer)
NEW DELHI, May 22 (Xinhua) -- India on Tuesday put its southern state of Kerala on high alert following the outbreak of Nipah virus that has killed at least 10 people.
"So far, 10 people have died due to the Nipah virus in the state's Kozhikode and Mallapuram districts. The dead included a nurse who treated some Nipah-infected patients at a state-run hospital in Kozhikode. The entire state has been put on high alert," a health official said.
Apart from the 10 deaths, some 94 people have been quarantined inside their homes while nine others are under surveillance in hospitals in the two districts, he said.
"Of 10 deaths, some eight have been reported from Kozhikode alone. Moreover, two of the nine hospitalized are in serious condition. The death toll may go up as these two infected patients are battling for their lives at a hospital," the official added.
Another health official said that an isolation ward has been opened in the Kozhikode Medical College and Hospital and a special task force has been formed to tackle the situation. "The state government has cancelled the leaves of the doctors and the paramedical staff," he said.
Earlier in the day, Indian Health Minister J.P. Nadda reviewed the situation in Kerala and directed top central health officials to extend all support to the southern state in the prevention and management of the Nipah virus.
Officials said that a multi-disciplinary central team from the National Center for Disease Control (NCDC) is currently camping in Kerala and constantly monitoring the situation.
"The NCDC team also visited the house in Perambra from where the initial death was reported. The team found many bats housed in the well from where the family was drawing water. Some bats have been sent for lab examination to confirm if they are the cause of the disease," an official said.
"Fortunately, no new case has been reported in the last 24 hours," Kerala Health Minister K.K. Shylaja told the media in capital Thiruvananthapuram.
Nipah virus is an emerging infectious disease that broke out in Malaysia in 1999, and first affected domestic animals before humans. The organism that causes the virus is an Ribonucleic acid virus of the family Paramyxoviridae, genus Henipavirus.
Health experts say there is no vaccine yet for the virus, which causes fever and breathlessness in affected patients as initial symptoms.
"So far, no vaccine has been made to combat the disease, which spreads mostly through direct contact. The virus spreads fast and leads to death in 70 percent cases. Kerala is a tourist destination and the virus needs to be contained fully," said a Delhi-based doctor.