On September 10, 2023, four individuals were admitted to Aster MIMS Hospital in Kozhikode, Kerala, exhibiting fever, cough, and respiratory symptoms. Among them were three children and one adult, all of whom were closely related. Further investigation revealed a recent family death, with the father of two of the children passing away 10 days earlier at a nearby hospital. Intriguingly, all these patients hailed from Maruthonkara, close to the epicenter of the 2018 Nipah virus outbreak in Kerala, raising concerns among the medical team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The re-emergence of a virus with a history of devastation prompted a swift response from the medical professionals attending to the patients. Dr. Anoop Kumar AS, the director of North Kerala (Cluster) of Critical Care Medicine at Aster Hospitals, played a pivotal role. Dr. Kumar had previously earned recognition for identifying the first Nipah outbreak in 2018. His experience from that time proved invaluable in tackling the current situation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“This clustering of cases with respiratory symptoms, coupled with a probable index (primary) case and the fact that they hail from the area near the previous epicenter, gave us a suspicion that it was a rare virus and that it could be Nipah,” Dr. Kumar stated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n