ICMR confirms Nipah antibody presence in bat samples collected from Kozhikode, says minister

The Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) has confirmed the presence of Nipah virus antibody in bat samples collected from Maruthonkara in the northern Kozhikode district, where the viral infection claimed the lives of two persons last month.

State Health Minister Veena George said on Thursday that the ICMR had conveyed this information to the state government via email. "We have received an email from the ICMR in this regard. They informed us that the antibody was present in the bat samples collected," she informed reporters.

The minister's statement followed her visit to some government hospitals in this hill district. An ICMR team had recently conducted a visit to the Nipah-affected areas in Kozhikode and gathered bat samples for testing.


A total of six individuals were confirmed to have contracted the virus in the district last month, out of whom two succumbed to the infection.