Karnataka Health Department steps up surveillance in Bengaluru after youth dies of Nipah in Kerala

The health authorities in Bengaluru have ramped up their surveillance efforts after a 23-year old student, a native of Wandoor in Malappuram district of Kerala, died from Nipah on September 9.

He breathed his last at a private hospital in Perinthalmanna, near Wandoor. Two labs, one in Kozhikode and another in Pune, confirmed he had contracted Nipah virus.

The youth was pursuing a postgraduate course at a college in Soladevanahalli on Bengaluru outskirts and returned to his village in Kerala to get himself treated for a leg injury. He got himself hospitalised later after he got a fever.


In Bengaluru, a team from the health department's disease surveillance unit visited the educational institution to gather information about the people who visited the youth when he was in hospital and those who attended his funeral.

The authorities have directed the staff at Chikkabanavara and Gopalapura primary health centres in Bengaluru to keep a close-watch on primary and secondary contacts of the deceased student.

Two primary contacts, officials said, were found to be asymptomatic.

In Thiruvali panchayat, where the youth lived, the Malappuram district administration has declared four wards as containment zones.

Health authorities have also set up Monkeypox testing kiosks at the international airport in Bengaluru to ensure international passengers, especially those coming from African countries, are not infected by the virus. If found infected, they have to undergo a three-week quarantine and isolation.