A sense of dread is growing in Kuttiadi, a town located on the slopes of the Western Ghats in Kozhikode district of Kerala. Most shops are closed. Very few people can be seen on the road. The masks on their faces are reminiscent of a time not too long ago, when the COVID-19 pandemic gripped the world, and earlier, when the Nipah virus, unknown and exotic, crept into Kerala society.
No one knew it then, but the crisis began on August 30 when a feverish E. Mohammedali, 47, a native of Kallad in the Maruthonkara gram panchayat, not far from Kuttiadi, died at a private hospital in Kozhikode. Hospital authorities declared that he died of pneumonia. Later, Mohammedali’s young children, brother-in-law aged 24, and a relative who is just 10 months old were all hospitalised with similar symptoms.
Editorial | Unified approach: On the Nipah outbreak in Kerala and a One Health approach
