TN Health teams to be deployed at border districts to check for Nipah cases

The Tamil Nadu government has directed health officials to strengthen surveillance in districts bordering Kerala, after the Nipah-virus was detected in the neighbouring state.

In an advisory, the Director of Public Health and Preventive Medicine instructed the department officials to screen all symptomatic cases of Nipah, using protective equipment to prevent the spread of the infection to those administering the test.

The department has instructed the Deputy Director of Health Services to strengthen the surveillance on Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (fever with altered sensorium) in the bordering districts of Kerala.

A boy in Kerala who had those symptoms passed away, and his sample tested positive for Nipah.

Those cases admitted from the bordering districts of Kerala, especially Kozhikode and Malappuram, should be followed up, the advisory said.

Government and private hospitals should be alerted about the Nipah virus outbreak and health teams should be deployed at border check-posts round-the-clock to screen all symptomatic cases especially in the Nilgiris, Coimbatore, Tiruppur, Theni, Tenkasi and Kanniyakumari, the advisory said.

Stating that the Human Nipah virus (NiV) is an emerging zoonotic disease, the advisory said it was first recognised in Malaysia and Singapore in 1998.

Again in 2001 and 2007 two outbreaks were reported in India.

In 2018, a major outbreak was reported in Kozhikode and Malappuram districts of Kerala with 18 confirmed cases and 17 persons dead.

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