One of the two nurses infected with the Nipah virus showed further signs of improvement on Saturday and was able to walk with assistance at the Barasat hospital, where she is undergoing treatment, an official of the hospital said.
The nurse was also orally fed on Saturday, though officials said she may not be able to speak for another day or two. The condition of the other nurse remains critical.
“The health condition of one of the nurses has shown significant improvement. The patient was able to walk on Saturday and was also fed orally. However, the nurse will not be able to speak for another day or two since she was under intubation for many days,” the hospital official said.
Both nurses are being treated at Narayana Multispeciality Hospital in Barasat.
The state government had confirmed on Tuesday that both nurses tested positive for the virus in confirmatory tests conducted at the National Institute of Virology, Pune.
Sources in the hospital said test results of all contacts of the two nurses have returned negative.
An official of the state health department confirmed that by Saturday, results of all high-risk contacts had been received. “All of them tested negative,” the official said.
“We were very concerned about the test result of the roommate of one of the nurses. But the test result of the third nurse has also returned negative. This is a huge relief for us. The third nurse was a high-risk contact as they spent a lot of time together in close proximity,” the official added.
Contact protocol
Under the state health department’s guidelines, anyone who came into contact with the body fluids — such as blood, urine or saliva — of a confirmed Nipah case is classified as a high-risk contact.
High-risk contacts also include individuals who were exposed to the body fluids of a suspected Nipah patient who died without laboratory confirmation, or those who remained in close proximity or enclosed spaces with an infected person for 12 hours or more.
The guidelines state that asymptomatic high-risk contacts must remain in quarantine for 21 days. During this period, they are placed under active surveillance by health workers. Sources in the state health department said these individuals are being contacted twice daily to monitor their health. If any symptoms appear, they must be admitted immediately to a designated hospital.
The state’s guidelines list fever, severe fatigue, muscle pain, headache, vomiting, altered mental status, convulsions, cough, respiratory distress and diarrhoea as symptoms suggestive of Nipah infection.
Low-risk contacts, according to the guidelines, will remain under observation for 21 days from the date of last exposure. They, too, are required to seek immediate hospital admission if symptoms develop.
A low-risk contact is defined as someone who handled clothes, fomites or linen of an infected person, or someone who had casual physical contact without exposure to body fluids.