Though there is no need to panic, there is every need to be cautious about Nipah virus (NiV), say health and veterinary experts.
There is a popular belief that fruits eaten by parakeets are sweet and tasty. Though such fruits do not make it to the market, children and those who harvest fruit, eat them. The belief that these fruits are eaten only by parakeets is a misconception. Ripe fruits are eaten not just by parakeets, but also by fruit bats that spread NiV.
Animal Husbandry Deputy Director (Epidemiology) Rajeswara Reddy said the habit of consuming fruit that are half eaten on the tree is very dangerous in the light of the Nipah virus infection cases. Fruit Bats and pigs are natural reservoirs of NiV. There is a chance of the virus spreading from the fruit half eaten by bat to either humans or pigs, Dr. Reddy said.
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Since NiV is zoonotic, people associated with pig rearing have a greater risk of being infected. There are sizeable populations of pigs in Krishna, Prakasam, Guntur, Kadapa and Visakhapatnam, he added.
Former ESI hospital superintendent and epidemiologist T.V. Narayana Rao said there are no NiV cases recorded in the State so far. This may be because there is no means of confirming the virus here. No commercial kits are available for NiV. All samples have to be sent to the National Institute of Virology, Pune. This is holiday season and people should be cautious about where they go and what they eat. Kerala Tourism has already issued a travel advisory to avoid travelling to Kozhikode area because NiV spreads also from human to human, Dr. Rao said.