AT least three more persons, a doctor, a nurse, and a health staff member, have been infected with the Nipah virus in West Bengal, taking the total number of active cases to five.
The first two patients – a male nurse from Purba Medinipur district and a female nurse from Mongolkot in Purba Bardhaman district who worked at a private hospital in Barasat in North 24 Parganas district – continue to remain in the ICU.
Among the three new cases, one is a doctor of the same private hospital in Barasat, and the other two are a nurse and a hospital staffer of Katwa subdivisional hospital who came in contact with the female nurse. They have been admitted to the infectious diseases hospital in Beleghata.
The West Bengal government has sent around 100 people into home quarantine over the last two days since the first two nurses tested positive for the Nipah virus on Monday.
“We are taking all measures possible and following protocols. There is no need to panic,” Health Secretary Narayan Swarup Nigam told The Indian Express.
Among those in quarantine, around 30 are being closely monitored.
“These include family members of the patients, doctors, nurses, drivers, and others who have come into contact with the patients. We have asked them to go into home quarantine for 14 to 21 days. We are keeping a watch on them,” said a senior doctor of the health department.
A senior health official said, “We came to know there may be contact persons in Nadia, Purba Bardhaman, and North 24 Parganas. We are taking all the details of these areas where both went and how many people were in contact with them. Those people have been quarantined.”
According to sources, blood samples from those who came into contact with two infected nurses have been sent to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Kalyani for Nipah virus testing.
Talking to the media, a relative of the female nurse said, “Though she was unwell since December 25, she worked in Barasat till December 30. She returned on January 2 with a high fever. That day, we took her to a private doctor. That night, she fainted. She was then taken to the Katwa subdivisional hospital. However, later she was taken to and admitted to the private hospital in Barasat, where she worked.”
“Health department officials came here and asked their home to be locked. Her parents are now in Kolkata,” said another relative who lives near the patient’s house in Katwa.
Health department officials said that at least 60 people from Purba Bardhaman, including doctors, nurses, health workers, and ambulance drivers from the Katwa subdivisional hospital, have been identified as having come into contact with the female nurse.
On December 15 and 17, the female nurse attended a family wedding in Nadia. From there, she visited several places, including Santiniketan. After falling ill, she was admitted to a medical college in South Bengal. The male nurse was on night duty at the hospital with the female nurse on December 20 and 21.
A health official said, “We have established a separate ward in the infectious disease hospital in Beliaghata to admit patients affected by the Nipah virus. We are also following various protocols, and all hospitals have been informed to remain vigilant for such cases. If any hospital encounters a patient with Nipah virus symptoms, they should transfer them immediately to the hospital.”
The Nipah virus is a highly fatal zoonotic infection, with fruit bats as the natural reservoir and pigs as hosts. It has resurfaced in West Bengal, following outbreaks in Siliguri in 2001 and Tehatta in 2007. In the last few years, Kerala has reported several outbreaks, beginning with the first in 2018.