Fruit bats suspected source of Nipah in 14-year-old from Kerala

MALAPPURAM: The test results from the National Institute of Virology and the National Institute of High Security Animal Diseases point out that fruit bats could likely be the source of Nipah infection in the 14-year-old boy who died of the disease in Pandikkad, Malappuram. Following the confirmation of Nipah infection in Pandikkad, a team of experts from the State Institute for Animal Diseases under the animal husbandry department, along with a team led by the Malappuram district coordinator of the District Animal Disease Control Project, jointly visited the affected area and collected samples from animals. The revelations by the friends of the Nipah victim led the NIV authorities to collect samples from fruit bats in Pandikkad. In tests conducted in previous years, the state health department, in association with the Indian Council of Medical Research, had identified that fruit bats are the source of the Nipah infection in Kerala.