Kolkata: The state health department has prepared an extensive guideline on the identification of contacts, isolation, and treatment of positive Nipah cases, as well as those suspected to have the infection. As of now, Bengal has two confirmed Nipah cases.
State health officials said this guideline was aimed at proper medical care that would help reduce mortality and prevent the spread of infection. This was the first such guideline the department has issued after the Covid-19 pandemic. Moreover, the health dept has handpicked one nurse each from 24 govt hospitals for a Nipah sensitization training at the Swasthya Bhawan.
Despite the scare, none of over 100 samples diagnosed so far tested positive for the virus. Even as the virus does not spread widely, doctors said that due to the high mortality, all steps must be taken to ensure that the infection is contained without delay.
According to the guideline, anybody who had contact with body fluids such as saliva, blood, urine, or respiratory secretions from a confirmed or probable case who died before a lab test confirmed the infection was in the high-risk category. Those with no symptoms can be put under home quarantine for 21 days, but those with symptoms need immediate hospital admission in an isolated ward.
"During home isolation, asymptomatic close contacts have to be under active surveillance twice daily to check for symptoms. This surveillance has to be done by a home care worker," said a health official. If any close contact developed symptoms during home quarantine, they should be admitted immediately to hospital and start treatment.
The guideline said that even if an individual had casual physical contact without body fluid exposure, or touched clothes or linens, these contacts were in the low-risk category. However, if they were symptomatic, they had to be admitted to the hospital's isolation unit and their samples sent for testing.
Despite healthcare givers being at high risk, the guideline said caregivers who tended to confirmed or suspected cases with adequate personal protection were not contacts, and they did not require any specific measure. Even those with low-risk exposure, if asymptomatic, can attend work while donning adequate personal protection, including an N95 mask.
Prepared by a team of infectious disease experts, including Yogiraj Ray, Ayan Basu, Soumendranath Haldar and Dipankar Pal from the health department, and Pritam Roy from WHO, the guideline also specified the antivirals that doctors should start on all positive and symptomatic cases at the earliest.