Thiruvananthapuram, Sep 15 (IANS): The Kerala Health Department has released a list of direct contact of the youth who died of suspected Nipah virus infection in Malappuram.

The list had the names of 26 people.

A 23-year-old student at Bengaluru, a native of Chembaram near Naduvath in Wandoor died at a private hospital at Perinthalmanna on Monday.

The primary lab test conducted in Kozhikode Medical College was positive, and the officials are awaiting confirmation of the same from the Pune virology lab to take further actions following protocols.

Officials from the Thiruvali panchayat of Malappuram district and the health department held a meeting to assess the region's current situation.

Malappuram district health officials told IANS that the deceased had come from Bengaluru recently with a leg injury.

The youth then contracted a fever and visited a clinic at Naduvath and another one at Wandoor.

A high-level meeting is taking place at the Malappuram district collectorate to discuss further proceedings.

It may be noted that the Nipah virus had claimed the life of a 14-year-old boy from Kerala‘s Malappuram district on July 21, 2024.

The resurgence of the disease, which often spreads from fruit bats to other animals and human beings, has prompted the government to impose containment measures in at least two panchayats in the district.

Doctors had injected the boy with a monoclonal antibody procured from Australia by the Indian Council of Medical Research, but in the teenager’s case, the deadline for the infusion of antibodies had passed.

However, the medical board authorised the administration as a desperate life-saving measure but could not save him.

It may be recalled that in 2018,18 people died of an outbreak of Nipah virus which is the first time the deadly disease was detected in southern India.