Nipah death in Kerala: Tamil Nadu steps up border surveillance
The existing guidelines were sufficient for surveillance, no need to panic, adds State DPH
Directorate of Public Health and Preventive Medicine
CHENNAI: After the death of a 14-year-old boy in neighbouring Kerala due to the deadly Nipah virus infection on Sunday, the Directorate of Public Health and Preventive Medicine said the existing guidelines were sufficient for surveillance as of now and assured that there was no need to panic.
The Kerala boy suffered a heart attack at the hospital while undergoing treatment for the infection on Sunday morning. He was on ventilator support and could not be revived, said media reports from there. Kerala had reported two deaths in September last year.
Public Health and Preventive Medicine director Dr TS Selvavinayagam said there were no active Nipah cases in Tamil Nadu, and added that there was no cause for panic as the guidelines issued earlier were sufficient for its surveillance.
As per the guidelines, the Deputy Directors of Health Services, especially in the districts bordering Kerala, have been instructed to strengthen the surveillance of Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES), which is a fever with altered sensorium. AES cases admitted from Kerala, especially Malappuram where the latest fatality was reported and Kozhikode, should be followed up closely.
The officials have been asked to alert the government and major private hospitals on the Nipah virus outbreak and instructed to ensure timely notification of the AES cases to the District Surveillance Officers through IDSP-IHIP portal.
Health teams have also been asked to be deployed at border check posts 24/7, especially in the Nilgiris, Coimbatore, Tirupur, Theni, Tenkasi and Kanniyakumari, to screen all symptomatic cases with necessary protective equipment.
The guidelines added that people exposed to areas like unused wells, caves, fruit orchards, etc. inhabited by fruit bats or articles contaminated by their secretions are likely to be at a higher risk of infection.
Persons with direct contact with sick pigs or their contaminated tissues, those in close contact with a Nipah virus-affected deceased during burial or cremation rituals, or healthcare workers having direct contact with probable or confirmed cases without using standard precautionary measures should exercise caution, it added.
