Nipah virus identified in Kozhikode fever deaths, Central team on way
Kozhikode/Thiruvananthapuram, May 20: The cause of death of two people, ostensibly suffering from fever, in Kozhikode has now been confirmed to be due to the Nipah virus (NiV), spread by fruit bats and causing severe disease in both animals and humans, a top official said on Sunday.
Kerala Health Secretary Rajiv Sadanandan told IANS that they have now got the confirmation from the National Institute of Virology, Pune.
'A central team of the Indian Council of Medical Research is arriving at Kozhikode tomorrow (Monday). There is no reason for any panic at all, as this can be managed and we have already started our work towards that. There was a similar issue in Bangladesh and it has been managed well. We have already informed the Centre about this,' he said.
While three members of a family at Perambara in Kozhikode died within weeks after what seemed to be common fever aggravated quickly, two more family members were being treated at the Medical College hospital and one of them has also tested positive. Two more deaths, due to fever, were reported from Kozhikode on Sunday.
Earlier in the day, state Health Minister K.K. Shailaja said the cause of death of the three family members was being ascertained.
'The samples were first sent to a laboratory in Manipal and it suggested that it was a rare virus... after that for detailed tests, the samples have been sent to the National Institute of Virology and the results are awaited...," she told media at Kochi.
Transmission of Nipah virus takes place through direct contact with infected bats, pigs, or from other NiV-infected people and people have been also cautioned that they should not consume fruits that have fallen on to the ground.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Novak Djokovic declines to address a past interview about getting sick in Australia in 2022
Melbourne, Jan 10: Novak Djokovic did not want to rehash — or even discuss at all, really — what he said Friday was a months-old interview with GQ magazine in which he recalled having high levels of metal in his blood from food he was served while detained before being deported from Australia in 2022.
“I would appreciate not talking more in detail about that, as I would like to focus on the tennis and why I'm here,” Djokovic said ahead of the Australian Open, which starts Sunday (Saturday EST).
“If you want to see what I've said and get more info on that, you can always revert to the article,” Djokovic said about the piece posted online this week.
Djokovic is working with Andy Murray as his coach in Australia in a bid to become the first player in tennis history with 25 Grand Slam singles titles.
In a lengthy GQ story that covered several topics, Djokovic spoke about what happened three years ago, when he was not vaccinated against COVID-19 and was kicked out of Australia.
“I had some health issues. And I realized that in that hotel in Melbourne, I was fed with some food that poisoned me," he said. "I had some discoveries when I came back to Serbia. I never told this to anybody publicly, but ... I had a really high level of heavy metal. Heavy metal. I had ... very high level of lead and mercury.”
The 37-year-old Serbian did not directly answer at the end of Friday's news conference when asked whether he had any evidence linking the blood levels he described to GQ to the food he ate in detention.
