Kerala on Nipah alert after Kozhikode man’s preliminary test turns positive

A 43-year-old man with encephalitis symptoms is undergoing treatment at the Government Medical College Hospital (MCH) in Kozhikode, Kerala, even as authorities are awaiting the lab results of his body fluid samples sent to the National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune, for Nipah infection. The patient is from Feroke in Kozhikode.

The preliminary test for Nipah virus infection at the MCH returned positive, officials said on Thursday (June 11, 2026).

According to sources, the patient is in a critical condition and is on ventilator support. He had been earlier admitted to a private hospital in the city, from where he was shifted to the MCH late on Wednesday night. An isolation ward has been set up for his treatment.

Meanwhile, Health Minister K. Muraleedharan is convening a meeting involving the Director of Medical Education, the Director of Health Services, and other officials in the State capital on Thursday afternoon.

He told the media in Thiruvananthapuram on Wednesday night that from the symptoms, the infection could turn out to be Nipah. “He has had contact with a large number of people. He had gone to the outpatient section of the private hospital first and from there, he went for an MRI scanning, and later an echocardiogram test. All the hospital staff have been told to go on quarantine,” Mr. Muraleedharan said.

The Minister said the patient is believed to have taken a godown on rent and cleaned the premises. “He is a small-time businessman. There is a possibility of the presence of fruit bats [which are the natural carriers of Nipah virus] in the area. He is learnt to have recovered from fever once. He again was infected and got admitted to the hospital,” the Minister said.

Contact list being prepared

Health officials have begun tracing his whereabouts and a route map to trace his contacts was being prepared. The authorities at the Kozhikode MCH have put in place restrictions around the isolation ward.

Kozhikode has had Nipah outbreaks in 2018 and 2023 and a spillover case in 2021.

(with inputs from PTI)