Nipah Kerala: deceased boy got infected from local fruit, says Health

Malappuram: Kerala Health Department confirmed that the teenage boy in the state, who died of Nipah on Sunday, consumed hog plum fruit from his neighbourhood where the presence of fruit bats was also confirmed. Fruit bats are known as reservoirs of the Zoonotic virus, The Indian Express reported.

The state health minister, Veena Georges, said, following a review in Malappuram, that the boy’s friends informed him that he ate the fruit before he developed fear.

She also said that a prima facie analysis of the case suggests that the source of the virus was the fruit, and a team of experts from Pune National Virology Institute will study fruit bats in the region on Monday.

According to the minister, an analysis of earlier incidents of Nipah infection in the state inferred that the strain of the virus found in the affected persons in the state was similar to the strain found in the body of the fruit bats. ICMR’s help has been sought in the efforts to ascertain the presence of virus in fruits, the minister said.

In 2018 and 2023, the presence of fruit bats was reported in the eastern hilly region of Kozhikode, where Nipah cases were reported. In 2019, one case was reported in Kochi, and the infected person had consumed a fruit bitten by a bat. In 2021, a boy lost his life to an illness in Chathamangalam in Kozhikode, who also had consumed infected fruit.

It is widely accepted that fruit bats are the source of the virus and that infected fruit bats can spread the disease to other animals, such as pigs, dogs, cats, goats, horses, and sheep.