Under the fear of Nipah virus or NiV, local people are ostracising the health workers and others who have treated or have come into contact with the affected. The trigger to the new psychosis it seems the death of Lini, a 31-year-old nurse who died of NiV infection.
A group of nurses from the Perambra Taluk Hospital where Lini had worked, faced protest from the people which forced them to disband, reported Times of India. The health workers, medical professionals and crematorium workers who have come into contact with the affected have been evaded by the autorickshaw drivers and other modes of transport too.
See also:Nipah virus out break contained, but stay alert: Health Minister K.K.Shailaja
This hostile attitude towards the health workers and crematorium workers has forced many among them to be reluctant in attending to the Nipah virus affected. Two workers of the Mavoor Road Crematorium had been reluctant when they were told to burn the body of one of the victims. A case was registered against both at the Nadakkavu Police station. A decline in the number of patients has been reported from many hospitals due to the fear of this contagious virus in the Northern state of Kerala.
Nipah Virus was first identified in Malaysia and the virologists have confirmed that the fruit bats are the natural hosts of NiV. This is not the first time Nipah visited India, NiV infections had been reported from Bengal’s Siliguri and Nadia districts respectively in 2001 and 2007. The one that happened in Siliguri had taken 50 lives back then! Niv may be transmitted by direct contact with infected bats, pigs, and humans or by consuming fruits eaten by infected bats or birds.
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