THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: At a time when time is of the essence, with Nipah cases rearing their head again in the state, the Institute of Advanced Virology (IAV) in Thiruvananthapuram remains underutilised, a year after it was equipped with facilities to test a good number of viral infections. The IAV was touted as the state’s response to deal with increasing instances of infectious diseases. It has a Biosafety Level 2 Plus (BSL2+) laboratory that can test around 88 types of viruses, including Nipah. Opened in 2020, it can confirm an infection within 12 hours of analysing a sample.
At a time when earlier confirmation is crucial to initiate treatment and containment measures, not a single sample has been sent to the IAV lab for testing, according to sources.
Health Minister Veena George cited ICMR protocol for sending the samples to Pune’s National Institute of Virology, which has a World Health Organization-approved BSL4 lab. She said the samples were tested at the Kozhikode Government Medical College’s BSL2 lab before being sent to Pune. However, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who declared the IAV Thiruvananthapuram lab functional on October 15, 2020, informed the assembly on Wednesday that it was ready for testing and he would examine why samples have not been sent there yet.
“The authority to declare an outbreak is vested with the Union government or its agencies. That is why the health department waited for confirmation from Pune. But, we should have utilised the Thonnakkal lab for all practical purposes, even before the outbreak,” said a pathologist.
Health experts believe that utilising the facilities could have resulted in the earlier detection of Nipah cases. The lab has been routinely conducting exclusive encephalitic panels for viral diseases such as Japanese encephalitis (JE), West Nile, herpes, etc. Though Nipah could be easily included in the panel, it was not done so because nobody raised a clinical suspicion, said a source.
There is a growing consensus among experts that clinical suspicion of Nipah at a healthcare facility could be missed at times due to its clinical presentation similar to JE. The state reported 44 cases and 17 deaths of JE this year.
‘Untested’ IAV
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