Probe on if Kerala Nipah patient got it from eating guava

A central team of medical professionals is looking into whether the only confirmed patient of Nipah in Kerala got it after eating guava, though the office of the state Health Minister has expressed ignorance about it.

The medical team decided to investigate the cause of the virus after the patient -- a young student -- admitted that he had eaten guavas last month.

Fruit bats have been identified as carriers of the deadly Nipah virus. After 12 deaths last year of reported Nipah outbreak in Kozhikode and Malappuram districts, experts had collected samples from bats in the area.

But the office of state Health Minister K.K.Shailaja told IANS that it was not aware of the new investigation, as all the monitoring of the present outbreak was being done from Kochi.

The young student, according to the doctors of the private hospital he is recuperating in, has recovered well but is still under close medical observation.

Meanwhile, no new case has been reported in the past one week and of more than 300 suspected cases under observation, many have started leading normal lives. IANS