Dakshina Kannada District Health and Family Welfare Department on Tuesday sent throat swab samples of two patients from the city to Manipal Centre for Virus Research (MCVR), Manipal, to ascertain whether they are infected with Nipah virus. One patient is a resident of Kerala and the other is from Mangaluru.
One patient has been admitted to the Government Wenlock Hospital and the other in a private hospital, said M. Ramakrishna Rao, District Health and Family Welfare Officer. While one of them had returned from Kozhikode and Kasaragod (in Kerala), the other had not gone to Kerala. “The samples have been sent suspecting their symptoms,” he told reporters on Tuesday. Mr. Rao said that the MCVR would further send the samples to the National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune for confirmation.
The report from the NIV is expected in two days. Only the NIV would have to confirm whether they are positive, he said.
The DHO said that the district has been put on high alert as it is bordering Kerala. All private hospitals have been asked to notify such cases.
