The outbreak of the deadly Nipah virus around Kozhikode, Kerala, is a test of India’s capacity to respond to public health emergencies. In 2018, the world health organization listed Nipah as one of the 10 priority pathogens needing urgent research, given its ability to trigger lethal outbreaks and the lack of drugs available against it. As an RNA (ribonucleic acid ) virus, Nipah has an exceptional rate of mutation- that is, it can easily adapt now, Such an adaptation would result in a truly dangerous microbe. Nipah already kills up to 70% of those it infects, through a mix of symptoms that include encephalitis, a brain inflammation marked by a coma state, disorientation, and long-lasting after-effects, such as convulsions, in those who survive. Thankfully, in most outbreaks in South Asia so far the virus has displayed a ‘stuttering chain of transmission’ . This means that once the virus spread from fruit bats, its natural reservoir, to humans, it moves mainly to people in close contact with patients, such as hospital staff and family caregivers. But these caregivers at high risk, because the sicker the patients become, the more virus they secrete. Preliminary reports suggest that the Kozhikode out break is also displaying a stuttering chain of transmission. Of the 11 confirmed Nipah fatalities, three were from the same family. While researchers are still investigating how they were exposed, a bat colony living in a well in the family’s yard is a strong suspect.
This fits in with how outbreaks have historically begun in the subcontinent. In a 2007 outbreak in Nadia, West Bengal, for example, Patient zero is believed to have acquired the virus from palm liquor contaminated by bat droppings. The next wave of infections have historically occurred among close contacts and caregivers, such as nurses; the same pattern has been detected in Kozhikode as well. But these are preliminary report, and new information may change what we know about the present virus. Several patients with symptoms of infec tion are under observation. Only when clinical investigations are complete can it be determined how contagious the virus really is. If it is found travelling over long distances, the authorities will have to be ready with strategies to combat its spread. The good news is that Kerala’s public health systems have acted with extraordinary efficiency so far. Doctors identified the virus in the very second patients, a diagnostic speed unrivalled in developing speed unrivalled in developing countries. This must be commended. But big challenges remain. The death of a nurse shows that health-care workers may not be taking adequate precautions when dealing with patients, by using masks and following a strict hand-wash regimen.
The virus has no specific treatment. The best defenses against it are the age-old principles of infection control, which Indian hospitals have not mastered as yet. Kerala’s health authorities must ensure these principles are widely adopted, and no preventable transmission takes place
Q- Find the False statement(s) on the basis of the given passage ?
(a) The outbreak of the deadly Nipah Virus around Kozhikode, Kerala can be prevented by using marks and following a strict hand-wash regimen
( (b) Preliminary reports will not be much the same as the new information.
(c) The deadly Nipah Virus is spreading among the humans only because of more
closeness to fruit bats than closeness to patients.
1. Only (a) & (b) 2. Only (b) & (c)
3 . Only (a) & (c) 4. Only both (a),(b) and (c)
5. only (b)
2. Q- “ stuttering chain of transmission” refer to ?
(a) Relating to a disease which spread from a regular source.
(b) Relating to a disease which spread from a irregular source.
(c) Relating to a disease which spreads from a DNA
(d) Relating to a disease which spread from a deceased
Ans- (1)–> 3
(02)–>b
