One more Nipah-infected patients succumbed to the dreaded virus infection in Kerala, taking the death toll to 17. The latest victim has been identified as Naduvannur native Rasin.
Though the death toll stands at 17, only 16 cases have been confirmed. The samples of Mohammed Sabith of Perambra, the first suspected casualty of Nipah, could not be tested as his funeral was conducted before the spread of the disease.
One more case of the deadly brain-damaging Nipah has been confirmed from the district and the person is undergoing treatment at Kozhikode Medical College.
The latest case takes the total number of confirmed cases to 18.
Besides, 1,353 people who had been in contact with the affected persons before the confirmation of the disease, are under observation, a health department official said.
No confirmed cases of the virus have been found yet outside Kerala despite fears it had spread. Several other states have sent samples for testing from people who reported.
Nipah-like symptoms in the past few days. Samples taken from fruit bats in Kozhikode, the suspected epicentre of the infection, have been sent for testing to the National Institute of High Security Animal Diseases in Bhopal.
The outbreak of the Nipah virus infection, a newly emerging zoonosis that causes severe disease in both animals and humans, is suspected to be from an unused well in Perambra which was infested with bats.
The natural host of the virus is believed to be fruit bats of the Pteropodidae family, Pteropus genus.