Malappuram, July 9: A woman undergoing treatment at a state-run hospital near here, identified as a high-risk contact of a Nipah-positive patient who died last month, passed away on Wednesday.

The deceased was admitted to the same hospital ward as the earlier Nipah victim.

Following her death, the health department has directed her family to delay the funeral until the final test results from the National Institute of Virology, Pune, are received.

This comes even as another Nipah-positive patient, currently undergoing treatment at Kozhikode Medical College and Hospital, remains in critical condition.

First identified in Malaysia in 1999, the Nipah virus has triggered several deadly outbreaks across South and Southeast Asia. Kerala remains the most affected state in India, having reported six outbreaks since 2018. The virus has claimed 17 lives in the state since the first outbreak in Perambra, Kozhikode, in 2018.

Currently, 482 people are on the Nipah contact list in Kerala, including 192 in Malappuram, 114 in Kozhikode, and 176 in Palakkad. Health authorities in all three districts are on high alert.

In Palakkad, the home district of the patient now in critical condition, a three-kilometre radius around the patient’s residence has been declared a containment zone. Field surveillance is ongoing, with officials collecting retrospective data from the past six months. Veterinary teams are also doing inspections in the area.

Nipah virus (NiV) is a highly fatal zoonotic pathogen transmitted from animals to humans. It can cause acute encephalitis, severe respiratory illness, and, in many cases, death.

Investigations have confirmed that fruit bats, also known as flying foxes, were the likely source of the virus. Nipah spreads through direct contact with infected animals (like pigs), consumption of fruits or palm sap contaminated by fruit bats, and from human to human through contact with bodily fluids or contaminated surfaces.

--IANS

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