How The Alertness Of Three Doctors Identified Nipah Virus And Prevented Massive Outbreak In Kerala

Nipah Virus is still causing panic in parts of Northern Kerala, it has already claimed 16 deaths. A total of 1407 people, who have come into close contact with those infected were put under quarantine in their own homes mainly in Kozhikode and Malappuram districts.

The situation could have been far worse, and the outbreak which is local could have spread to more places, all thanks to these doctors.

PTI

It was three doctors of Baby Memorial Hospital in Kozhikode who identified the infection as Nipah.?

On May 17, critical care specialist Dr AS Anoop Kumar noticed something strange in patient, Mohammed Saliah who was admitted with symptoms of acute encephalitis.

But in his case, instead of the blood pressure and heartbeat going down, his blood pressure was rising and pulse rate was also swinging alarmingly.??

After discussing with his two colleagues Dr Ajith K Gopan and Dr Ganga Prasad, the trio concluded that they are dealing with a rare outbreak.

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To their shock, the doctors also got to know that Saliah brother had died of similar symptoms just a few days ago.

“Then we asked his relatives whether anybody else had similar symptoms. They said three family members had similar symptoms. We asked them to come to the hospital and examined them. Of the three, the condition of two of them deteriorated rapidly. So, we realised we are dealing with an unusual and lethal situation,” said Dr Anoop.

The medics, convinced that they are dealing with an unusual situation, collected body fluid samples of the four patients and sent them to Manipal Centre for Virus Research for tests.

By the time experts in Manipal confirmed on May 18 that the infection was in fact Nipah Virus, Saliah had already died.

His father Moosa, younger brother Mohammed Sadiq and aunt Mariumma also died of Nipah virus. A nurse, Lini, who treated them at a government hospital also succumbed to the viral disease.

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But even after being alerted about the development, it took two more days, on May 20, for the directorate of health services (DHS) to officially confirm that the virus was Nipah, based on the findings from the National Institute of Virology, Pune.?

According to Dr Shimna Azeez, a Kerala based health medical professional, Nipah Virus was so insignificant that it was mentioned in just a few lines in the medical textbooks, and she never bothered to study about it, convinced that since it is so rare, it won't be asked in examination.

PTI

While the Nipah Virus outbreak is yet to be brought under control, all credits for keeping it under check should go to the three doctors who identified the rare virus outbreak right on time and averted a potential healthcare disaster.