A 42-year-old woman from Kerala’s Malappuram district has tested positive for the Nipah virus — a zoonotic infection known for its high fatality rate. The woman had been admitted to a private hospital on May 2, presenting symptoms of encephalitis. Her samples were sent to the National Institute of Virology (NIV) in Pune, which officially confirmed the Nipah infection on Thursday, according to local health authorities.
Kerala’s Health Minister, Veena George, is expected to visit Malappuram shortly to review containment efforts. The state has maintained a rigorous Nipah response protocol since the virus first surfaced there in 2018.
This latest case marks Kerala’s sixth Nipah outbreak. Of the total infected since 2018, only six individuals have recovered — one each in Kozhikode (2018) and Kochi (2019), and four others during last year’s outbreak in Kozhikode.
In the initial 2018 outbreak, 17 of the 18 infected patients died. One more death occurred in 2021, followed by two in 2023. Malappuram itself reported two fatalities last year. Overall, the virus has claimed 22 lives in Kerala since 2018.
The majority of outbreaks have been recorded between May and September — the state’s monsoon period — making it harder to distinguish Nipah from common seasonal fevers early on.
Studies trace the virus’s origin to fruit bats, with human-to-human transmission largely occurring in hospital settings. The Bangladeshi strain, identified in Kerala, has a mortality rate of up to 90%.
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