Nipah suspected in patient in Mangaluru, samples sent for test

More than a week after a 12-year-old boy succumbed to the Nipah virus in Kerala's Kozhikode district, a person being treated at a hospital in Mangaluru is suspected to have the infection and his samples have been sent for test.

Dakshina Kannada Deputy Commissioner Dr K V Rajendra told reporters here Tuesday that it was only a suspected case, but cannot be neglected. The person is a native of Karwar and is working at Goa in an RT-PCR test kit manufacturing unit, he said.

The DC said his samples are sent for test to National Institute of Virology (NIV) in Pune and the result is awaited. The person's family members have been kept in isolation. The patient had not shown severe symptoms till the sample was sent for testing on Monday, he said.

The primary contacts of the person have been traced and detected. The district administrations of Udupi and Karwar are also alerted on the matter, Rajendra said.