A man, who had recently returned from Kerala, has been hospitalised in West Bengal's Kolkata with Nipah virus infection's symptoms.
The man is a native of Burdwan district of Bengal and was working as a labourer in Kerala. The infection is yet to be confirmed.
Kerala is currently dealing with an outbreak of Nipah virus. So far, six people have been confirmed to have been infected with the virus and two of them have died. Nine others are under observation in hospital.
The man admitted to the hospital in Kerala was having high-fever, nausea, and throat infection, said a senior health department official to PTI.
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"He returned from Kerala where several cases of Nipah virus infections have been reported. So, we are not taking any chances. Doctors are keeping a close watch on him," the official said to PTI, adding that the person was initially at a hospital in Ernakulam in Kerala after he complained of high fever.
"He returned to West Bengal after being discharged from the hospital. But he again fell ill within a couple of days. He was first taken to the National Medical College and Hospital and then to Beliaghata ID Hospital," said the official further.
The Nipah virus is a zoonotic virus which means that it spreads from animals to humans. Once a human is infected, the virus can spread from the human to other humans through close contact. The virus has a high mortality of around 40-75 per cent.
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The virus spreads when people or animals come into contact with the bodily fluids like blood, urine, stool, or saliva of an infected animal or when they eat or drink something contaminated by an infected animal, says Cleveland Clinic, adding that it can also spread among humans from close contact to an infected person.
"It spreads mainly through fruit bats (also called flying foxes) but can also spread through pigs and other animals like goats, horses, dogs or cats...There’s no medication or vaccine to treat it. Managing symptoms is the only way to treat Nipah virus," says Cleveland Clinic.
The Nipah virus symptoms include fever, headache, breathing issues, cough, sore throat, diarrhoea, nausea, and muscle pain and weakness. The symptoms usually start withing 4-14 days of exposure to the virus. Cleveland Clinic notes that a person may develop brain infection called encephalitis that's is life-threatening. Other severe symptoms include confusion and disorientation, slurring speech, seizures, coma, and respiratory distress.
