Baltimore: The Kerala government has been honoured in the United States for its effort to contain the spread of the deadly Nipah virus in a timely manner.

Chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan and health minister K K Shylaja were honoured by the famed Institute of Human Virology here on Saturday.

Noted medical scientist and co-founder of the institute, Dr Robert Gelo, presented Pinarayi with a memento. Gelo was part of the team that identified the virus causing AIDS.

Ahead of the meeting, Dr Gelo and other senior scientists of the institute held talks with Pinarayi and Shylaja.

A proposal to cooperate with Kerala in researches and the operation of an international virology centre to be set up in Thiruvananthapuram were discussed at the meeting. Kerala doctors M V Pillai and Sarngadharan also took part in the talks.

Apart from Dr Gelo, Dr Shyam Kottili, director of clinical virology department, also spoke at the function. Pinarayi and Shylaja thanked the institute for the honour.

Pinarayi Vijayan
Noted medical scientist and co-founder of the institute, Dr Robert Gelo, presented Pinarayi and Shylaja with mementos: Manorama

The honour bagged by Pinarayi assumes an additional significance as this is the first time since its founding in 1996 that the institute has honoured a people's representative.

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