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Union Health Minister JP Nadda learned to share the findings of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) with Minister of Health KK Shailaja during his meeting in Delhi last week.
Deputy Chief Secretary (Health) Rajeev Sadanandan confirmed that the Center had communicated the same to public health officials during the visit of the Minister of Health. "The results indicated that frugivorous bats were the source of Nipah, but no official communication or report on the results was received," he said.
In the first batch, samples of 21 bats were sent for badysis; they tested negative for Nipah. But, 55 samples were sent for testing in the second batch and the results were not revealed.
Therefore, officials of the state health department have no idea of new development in naming frugivorous bats as a source.
"National Institute of Virology, National Center for Disease Control and ICMR had collected samples of Changaroth panchayat in Kozhikode We have not received their test reports, so we can not confirm from which samples the source was located, "said one official who was part of the department's sample collection team. It was done entirely by the central teams, he added.
In the wake of the identification of sources, Sadanandan said that "the prevention of transmission between bats will be part of the strategy to cope with future epidemics".
The Nipah virus killed 16 people from Kozhikode and Malappuram this year. It began with the death of Mohammed Sabith, a resident of Changaroth, on May 5, although it was not confirmed that he had died because of Nipah. The infection was diagnosed on May 18 when his brother Mohammed Salih was hospitalized in a private hospital.
The infection with the virus was officially confirmed on May 20 during tests conducted at the National Institute of Virology in Pune.
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