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The southern state of Kerala is quickly ramping up efforts to stop a potential outbreak of the deadly Nipah virus. Experts have started contact tracing and isolating hundreds of people who came into contact with a boy who died in hospital on Sunday. On Tuesday, the state health minister told reporters that the samples of eight primary contacts have come back negative.
Veena George said: “That these eight immediate contacts tested negative is a great relief.”
Nipah, which was first identified in the Nineties, can be spread by bats, pigs and through human-to-human contact.
There is no vaccine for the virus, which can cause raging fevers, convulsions and vomiting. The only treatment is supportive care to control complications and keep patients comfortable.
The virus has an estimated fatality rate of between 40 percent and 75 percent, which local media says “make it far more deadly than coronavirus”
More to follow
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