THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The team of experts led by the State Institute of Animal Diseases (SIAD) has completed the first round of collection of samples of Pteropus or fruit bats, which are one of the main carriers of Nipah virus, while the team deputed by National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune, has started the process of sample collection. The team has collected samples of bats, carcasses of bats, goat samples and samples of fruits bitten by bats from the neighbouring areas.
Speaking to TNIE, SIAD chief disease investigation officer Mini Jose said the collected samples would be sent for screening at the High Security Animal Disease Laboratory in Bhopal. “If there is anything unusual in the test results, we will think about the next steps to be taken,” she said. Though pigs are considered the main host of Nipah, the team has not collected samples from wild pigs in the area as their contacts with people are relatively low. It is expected that the results would be known in 48 hours after the screening.
“Though we had confirmed fruit-eating bats as the source of infection the last two times, the state government has limitations to stop the disease. In the normal scenario, once the transmission source of the virus is identified, guidelines will be issued,” an expert said.
During the 2018 Nipah outbreak in Kozhikode, 52 Pteropus giganteus bats were collected and samples of 10 of them (19%) were found positive through the Real Time qRT-PCR testing technique. The viral strain of bats had then close to 100% similarity with the human NiV strain identified then.