A high alert has been sounded in Mysuru, Kodagu and Chamarajanagar districts following the confirmation of deaths due to the dangerous Nipah virus in Kerala. The outbreak in that State has put Central and State health authorities on their toes.
As a lot of tourists from Kerala visit the major tourist destinations in Mysuru almost daily, the district administration on Tuesday said adequate precautionary measures, including setting up isolation wards in the State-run K.R. Hospital, Cheluvamba Hospital and Epidemic Diseases Hospital, have been taken. So far, there have been no suspected cases in the district.
Private hospitals have been directed to set aside at least five beds for emergency treatment of patients with flu-like symptoms.
Deputy Commissioner Abhiram G. Sankar, who chaired a meeting with health authorities and reviewed the preventive measures in place, told reporters on Tuesday that material for educating the public on the newest viral infection would be made available at all hospitals and major tourist spots.
Health authorities are also on alert in Kodagu, Chamarajanagar, Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts.
Mr. Sankar said awareness, case detection and symptomatic treatment with standard procedures would get priority. If fever and other symptoms don’t subside even after symptomatic treatment, the patient will be isolated for continuing the treatment in separation with round-the-clock observation.
The DC said he has asked school and college authorities to educate students and take adequate precautions as the infection can spread from an infected person to a healthy person.
As the infection can spread from fruit bats to pigs, instructions had been given for educating people rearing pigs in the district to take precautions, he said, adding that pig owners should not feed discarded and rotten fruit to pigs.
Mr. Sankar also said that fruits grown in trees such as papaya, chiku, and mango with bite marks should not be eaten as they may have been bitten by fruit-eating bats. It is better to avoid cut fruits sold on the streets, but there is no threat to eating fruits at home after confirming they do not have bite marks. The HOPCOMs here had been directed to properly discard waste fruits, he said.
Advisory material
The advisory materials (on the dos and don’ts) will be printed in Malayalam, Kannada and English. “We get a lot of tourists from Kerala. If someone falls sick here, the information will be of use for them and they can also alert us for locally isolating them to check spread of the infection,” Mr. Sankar said.
District Vector-Borne Diseases Control Officer S. Chidambara said there is no prescribed treatment to Nipah infection. On contracting the virus, the patient can get encephalitis and could slip into coma if he or she is not treated immediately.
