Summary:
Jaipur: Acute encephalitis cases will be on the radar in the state as Nipah infection can cause complications from acute respiratory syndrome to fatal encephalitis. He said that Nipah cases tend to occur in a cluster or as an outbreak. During the outbreak in Siliguri, 33 health workers and hospital visitors became ill after exposure to patients hospitalised with Nipah virus illness, suggesting nosocomial infection. Health department officials said that large fruit bats of Pteropus genus are the natural reservoir of NiV.Health department officials pointed out that there are circumstantial evidence of human-to-human transmission in India in 2001. Besides, the rapid response teams of health department under Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP) have been directed to remain vigilant so that they can undertake early case detection and contact tracing upon request from national agencies.Taking a note of several deaths that occurred in Kerala due to Nipah virus, the health department has issued guidelines regarding human Nipah virus..