The 14-year-old boy from Kerala’s Malappuram district, who tested positive for the Nipah virus, died at the government medical college hospital in Kozhikode today.
He had developed a fever 10 days ago, and had been on ventilator support since Friday, Health Department officials said.
After NIV-Pune on Saturday confirmed that he had the Nipah virus, the boy was moved to the Medical College Hospital in Kozhikode from a private hospital.
Doses of monoclonal antibodies for his treatment were expected to reach Kozhikode on Sunday from Pune, but he succumbed before this. His body will be buried as per protocol for those infected with the Nipah virus.
The Health Department has opened a control room in Malappuram, where an alert has been declared. People were advised to wear masks and a lockdown was declared in selected areas under Pandikkad panchayat, the village where the boy is from.
Health Minister Veena George told the media that four more people have developed Nipah symptoms and one of them is on life support. Their samples were sent for testing. Around 240 people, who were in the list of contacts of the boy, are under observation.
Kerala has had five Nipah outbreaks since 2018. Till now, only six positive patients have survived — one in Kozhikode in 2018, another in Kochi in 2019, and four cases in Kozhikode in 2023. In 2018, 17 out of 18 infected persons had died, and in 2021, there was one death. In 2023, two Nipah deaths were reported.
