The health authorities are yet to figure out the source of the Nipah virus infection in the State even as one more person undergoing treatment at the Government Medical College Hospital (MCH) succumbed to the virus infection on Saturday.
The lab results of Kalyani, 75, had tested positive on the same day. So far, 13 people have died due to the infection.
Victim from Perambra
R.L. Saritha, Director, Health Services, said the deceased hailed from Perambra. She was admitted to the MCH on May 16 after she was found to have consumed a poisonous substance. Kalyani was shifted to the isolation ward on May 22 after she showed symptoms of the virus infection.
It is suspected that Kalyani acquired the infection from one of the deceased while that person was undergoing treatment at the ward. Her body was cremated at the electric crematorium on Mavoor Road.
Dr. Saritha said no new suspected cases were admitted to the MCH on Saturday. Many of those who had been admitted to the hospital in the past few days had been discharged and the total number of people under observation at the hospital had come down to 12. Ten of them are from Kozhikode district and two from Malappuram district.
Three infected people are still undergoing treatment. V.R. Rajendran, Principal, Government Medical College, Kozhikode, said that one of them was responding to the treatment after Ribavirin tablets were administered to her.
62 samples test negative
Dr. Saritha said the reports of 77 blood and body fluid samples had come from the Manipal Centre for Virus Research so far, of which 62 were negative.
It had been decided to stop the practice of collecting blood samples from the field now and they would be done only at the medical college hospital.
“Efforts to trace the source of infection of the first victim are still on. Media reports saying that bats are not the carriers of Nipah virus are not true,” she said.
Meanwhile, a joint team of personnel from the Animal Husbandry and Forest departments are continuing efforts to collect body fluid samples of fruit-eating bats in Sooppikkada in Chengaroth grama panchayat.
Dr. Saritha said mental health support would be provided to all the healthcare staff who are engaged in precautionary and surveillance measures.
