Caught Napping: On Nipah Outbreak In Kerala
Kerala Makes Up For Lost Focus By Acting Quickly On The Nipah Outbreak
A year after Kerala’s prompt action quickly brought the deadly Nipah virus infection outbreak under check in two districts (Kozhikode and Malappuram), the State has once again shown alacrity in dealing with a reported case. A 23-year-old student admitted to a private hospital in Ernakulam on May 30 tested positive for the virus on June 4. But even as the government was awaiting confirmation from the National Institute of Virology, Pune, steps had been taken to prevent the spread of the disease by tracing the contacts, setting up isolation wards and public engagement. Two health-care workers who had come into contact with the patient exhibited some symptoms and are being treated. While 311 people who had come in close contact with the student are kept in isolation to prevent the spread of the disease, the numbers might be more — the student had reportedly travelled to four districts (Ernakulam, Thrissur, Kollam, and Idukki) recently. Containing the spread of the Nipah virus is important as the mortality rate was 89% last year, according to a paper in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases. The source of infection in the index case (student) remains unknown. However, transmission to 18 contacts last year and the two health-care workers this year has been only through the human-to-human route.
If Kerala was taken by surprise by the first outbreak last year, its recurrence strongly suggests that the virus is in circulation in fruit bats. After all, the virus isolated from four people and three fruit bats (Pteropus medius) last year from Kerala clearly indicated that the carrier of the Nipah virus which caused the outbreak was the fruit bat, according to the paper in Emerging Infectious Diseases. Analysing the evolutionary relationships, the study found 99.7-100% similarity between the virus in humans and bats. The confirmation of the source and the recurrence mean that Kerala must be alert to the possibility of frequent outbreaks. Even in the absence of hard evidence of the source of the virus till a few days ago, fruit bats were widely believed to be the likely candidates. That being so and considering the very high mortality rate when infected with the virus, it is shocking that Kerala had not undertaken continuous monitoring and surveillance for the virus in fruit bats. One reason for the failure could be the absence of a public health protection agency, which the government has been in the process of formulating for over five years, to track such infective agents before they strike. Not only should Kerala get this agency up and running soon, it should also equip the Institute of Advanced Virology in Thiruvananthapuram to undertake testing of dangerous pathogens. Known for high health indicators, Kerala cannot lag behind on the infectious diseases front.
meanings and words
1. prompt
Meaning:(of an event or fact) cause or bring about (an action or feeling).
Tamil Meaning:உடனடியாக
Synonym:give rise to, bring about, cause, occasion, result in, lead to, elicit
Antonym: Deter, Restrain
Example Sentence: “the violence prompted a wave of refugees to flee the country”
- outbreak
Meaning: a sudden occurrence of something unwelcome, such as war or disease.
Tamil Meaning: வெடித்தபோது
Synonym: Eruption, flare-up, upsurge, outburst, epidemic, breakout, sudden appearance
Antonym: Calm, Peace, Completion
Example Sentence: “the outbreak of World War II”
3.admitted
Meaning: confess to be true or to be the case / receive (a patient) into a hospital for treatment.
Tamil Meaning: அனுமதிக்கப்பட்டார்
Synonym: Acknowledge, confess, reveal, make known, disclose
Antonym: deny, conceal
Example Sentence: “she was admitted to hospital suffering from a chest infection”
4.alacrity
Meaning: brisk and cheerful readiness.
Tamil Meaning: சுறுசுறுப்பு
Synonym: Eagerness, willingness, readiness; enthusiasm, ardour, fervour, keenness
Antonym: Apathy
Example Sentence: “she accepted the invitation with alacrity”
5.prevent
Meaning: keep (something) from happening.
Tamil Meaning: தடுக்க
Synonym: Stop, put a stop to, avert, nip in the bud, fend off
Antonym: Allow, cause, encourage
Example Sentence: “action must be taken to prevent further accidents”
6.spread
Meaning: open out (something) so as to extend its surface area, width, or length.
Tamil Meaning: பரவல்
Synonym: lay out, open out, unfurl, unroll, roll out, shake out
Antonym: Fold up
Example Sentence: “I spread a towel on the sand and sat down”
7.tracing
Meaning: find or discover by investigation.
Tamil Meaning: தடமறிவதாக
Synonym: Track down, find, discover, detect, unearth, uncover, turn up, hunt down, dig up
Antonym: Whole, Brightness, Glob
Example Sentence: “police are trying to trace a white van seen in the area”
8.isolation
Meaning: the process or fact of isolating or being isolated.
Tamil Meaning: தனிமை
Synonym: Separation, segregation, setting apart, keeping apart; quarantine; insulation, seclusion
Antonym: Contact, accessibility
Example Sentence: “isolation from family and friends may also contribute to anxiety”
9.come into contact
Meaning: to be in a place where you meet someone or experience something
Example Sentence: Could she have come into contact with the disease at school?
10.exhibited
Meaning: publicly display (a work of art or item of interest) in an art gallery or museum or at a trade fair / manifest clearly (a quality or a type of behaviour).
Tamil Meaning: கண்காட்சியின்
Synonym: put on display, put on show, display, show, show to the public, put on public view
Antonym: conceal, hide
Example Sentence: “only one sculpture was exhibited in the artist’s lifetime”
11.prevent
Meaning: keep (something) from happening.
Tamil Meaning: தடுக்க
Synonym: Stop, put a stop to, avert, nip in the bud, fend off, turn aside
Antonym: Allow, cause, encourage
Example Sentence: “action must be taken to prevent further accidents”
12.mortality
Meaning: the state of being subject to death.
Tamil Meaning: இறப்பு
Synonym: Impermanence, temporality, transience, ephemerality, impermanency
Antonym: immortality
Example Sentence: “the work is increasingly haunted by thoughts of mortality”
13.Infectious
Meaning: (of a disease or disease-causing organism) liable to be transmitted to people, organisms, etc. through the environment.
Tamil Meaning: தொற்று
Synonym: Contagious, communicable, transmittable, transmissible, transferable
Antonym: Harmless, Antiseptic, Germless, Non-Infectious
Example Sentence: “outbreaks of infectious diseases”
14.recurrence
Meaning: the fact of occurring again.
Tamil Meaning: மறுநிகழ்வு
Synonym: Frequency, Habituation, Repitition
Example Sentence: “a drug used to prevent the recurrence of breast cancer”
15.similarity
Meaning: the state or fact of being similar.
Tamil Meaning: ஒற்றுமை
Synonym: Resemblance, likeness, sameness, similar nature, similitude, comparability
Antonym: Dissimilarity, Difference
Example Sentence: “the similarity of symptoms makes them hard to diagnose”
