People wear safety masks as a precautionary measure after the Nipah virus outbreak, at Kozhikode Medical College, in Kerala, on Friday.Kozhikode: One more Nipah-infected person has succumbed to the dreaded illness, taking the death toll to 14. Palazhi native Ebin, 26, was the deceased
On Saturday, 75-year-old Kalyani, who was undergoing treatment at the medical college hospital here since May 16, had died. Three days ago, 61-year-old V Moosa had died of the virus infection.
Two members of his family had died earlier of the virus. His eldest son had also died, but his samples were not tested.
Lini Puthussery, a nurse who had initially treated members of Moosa's affected family members at Perambra Taluk hospital in the district, also died after being infected by the virus.
About 160 samples were sent for tests to the National Virology Institute (NVI) Pune and 15 cases tested positive, health department sources said.
Of the 15 confirmed cases, 13 people have died so far.
With samples of insectivores bats testing negative for the virus, samples of fruit-eating bats are being collected from nearby Perambra, the epicenter of the Nipah virus, to be send for tests at the National Institute of High Security Animal Diseases (NIHSAD) in Bhopal.
Experts from NIV and departments of Animal Husbandry and Forest have begun collecting samples which would be sent to NIHSAD, to test for presence of the virus in the fruit-eating bats, Dr N N Sasi, the Director Animal Husbandry, told PTI.
Earlier, samples of three insectivorous bats caught from an unused well of the Moosa family, which lost three members to the virus, were sent to the Bhopal laboratory along with samples of pigs, goats and cattle in the 5-km radius of the affected area and all of them tested negative, he said.
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