Overview
- Local health officials identified a 43-year-old man with encephalitis-like symptoms who tested positive on a preliminary Nipah test and is isolated at Kozhikode Medical College on ventilator support.
- Preliminary testing was done at the medical college and clinical samples were dispatched to the National Institute of Virology in Pune for definitive confirmation.
- Officials compiled a contact list of 77 people and placed those at highest and high risk under quarantine while monitoring all contacts for symptoms.
- Authorities say the patient recently cleaned a rented godown that was heavily populated with fruit bats and suspect zoonotic exposure during that activity.
- Kerala has activated its seasonal Nipah response protocols and will watch the NIV result and any secondary cases closely because the state has had repeated bat-linked spillovers since 2018.