KOZHIKODE: For last few years, doctors were expecting an attack of MERS CoV, expanded as Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus, in the state due to the large-scale migration of Keralites. The more deadly Nipah was nowhere on their list of the probable. In September 2012, when the first case of MERS CoV was reported in Saudi Arabia, the Union health ministry sounded a high alert for Kerala.
The state then even had appointed Dr Amar Fettle, the nodal officer for prevention of communicable diseases, as the chief officer to coordinate activities.
Even virologists in Manipal were expecting the virus attack in the state given the heavy traffic on the Kerala-Gulf sector. About 35 per cent of the patients with MERS have died, but the World Health Organisation believes it could be an overestimate.
So far, worldwide, 2,207 patients have tested positive for MERS, and 90 per cent of the deaths (713 of 787) were in the kingdom. At 89 per cent, the Nipah fatality rate in Kerala was the highest, but the health workers succeeded in containing it fast. “The high mortality virus is still a fear," says virologist Dr G. Arunkumar of Manipal Academy of Higher Education, who played a crucial role in identifying Nipah. Dromedary camels are a major reservoir host for MERS-CoV, and human-to-human infections in healthcare settings spread it.“Our labs were ready since then, as we expected sure cases," Dr Fettle told DC.
"Its minimum incubation period is two weeks. During the previous outbreak, all the sample in Kerala tested negative." He said the state had received an immediate alert from the respective countries given the massive presence of people from this region there. "The immediate alert was to take travel history of any suspected patient," he said. There's team of doctors at airports for an initial level of screening and quarantine. "We even had arranged an isolation ward and trained health workers to tackle the situation."
