Kerala’s Lone Nipah Patient Remains Critically Ill as Second Healthcare Worker Tests Negative
Health officials say continued testing and animal sampling will determine whether the infection stopped at a single case
Overview
- State health officials reported Tuesday that the 43-year-old patient in Kozhikode remains on ventilator support and has received a second dose of an ICMR-guided monoclonal antibody treatment.
- The health minister’s office said Tuesday that a second healthcare worker on the primary contact list tested negative and that multiple contact and symptomatic samples have also returned negative results.
- Authorities currently list about 103–104 people on the contact roster across risk categories with roughly 45 healthcare workers under observation and several admitted and discharged after negative tests.
- Teams collected bat body fluids, bat excreta and nasal and blood samples from nearby dogs and cats and sent those specimens to the National Institute of High Security Animal Diseases in Bhopal for analysis.
- Kerala has formed a high-power committee to oversee containment and is conducting house-to-house surveillance and hospital reviews, steps that will shape how quickly restrictions are eased and local health services return to normal.