The Deputy Directors of Health in the districts bordering Kerala have been advised to be vigilant to prevent the spread of the Nipah virus.
In a letter, the Director of Public Health has instructed the Deputy Directors of Health of the Nilgiris, Coimbatore, Tiruppur, Kanniyakumari, Theni and Tenkasi districts to be alert to the arrival of people from Kerala.
The Director of Public Health has detailed the origin of the virus and how it spreads. He has asked the Deputy Directors of Health to screen people coming from Kerala, in coordination with district officials, for signs and symptoms of the disease.
In humans, the infection manifests with fever, headache, drowsiness, disorientation, respiration distress, coma and potential death. Anyone who has come in contact with an infected person should be monitored for the longest period of incubation (21 days) to rule out the infection, the letter has said.
Those with symptoms should be isolated and samples collected within 4-5 days of the start of illness. A health worker must be attired in personal protective equipment and follow all bio safety precautions while collecting the throat swab and blood and urine samples. He must wear an N-95 mask and wash hands before and after taking the samples, the letter said.
The samples must be transported at 2-8 degrees Celcius to the State Public Health Laboratory for screening and preliminary investigation, and to the National Institute of Virology, Pune, for confirmation.
The district health officials have been given a set of forms that they should maintain.
They include the list of contacts to be traced and the format for recording deaths due to the infection.
