One of the two nurses infected with the Nipah virus spoke with doctors and caregivers on Sunday, while the other has not had a fever for the past two days but remains in a coma, officials of Barasat hospital said.
The nurse, who is recovering, was also able to walk with assistance from Saturday.
“The nurse’s recovery seems good so far. The patient is walking with assistance and was also able to speak on Sunday. Doctors and caregivers spoke with the nurse,” said an official of Narayana Multispeciality Hospital, Barasat.
Both the infected nurses are being treated at the Barasat hospital, where they are also employed.
“The other nurse is still critical and in coma. The only good thing is that the patient did not have any fever for the last two days,” said an official.
Health department sources said their investigations so far have pointed to a common source, and it seems the two nurses at the hospital contracted the infection from a patient at the hospital.
“It seems the source of infection was a patient to whom both nurses provided care,” said the health department official.
Officials also said that the infection had not spread so far, and that was a relief for them.
We have completed contact tracing. All those listed as contacts have been reached, and all samples tested have been negative for the Nipah virus,” the official said.
A doctor and a nurse who had treated one of the infected nurses at Burdwan
Medical College and Hospital were also discharged from Infectious Diseases and Beliaghata General Hospital, commonly known as Beliaghata ID hospital.
“Their test results came back negative a couple of days ago. They were discharged from the hospital on Saturday. They will remain quarantined at home for the rest of their quarantine period,” said the health department official.
Guidelines issued by the state health department have suggested home quarantine for 21 days for high-risk contacts.
The guidelines defines a high-risk contact as some who came in contact with body fluids (blood, urine, saliva etc) of a confirmed case of the Nipah virus; someone with any contact with body fluids of person suspected to have been infected with the virus, but who died without a lab confirmation of the Nipah virus; or anyone who was in proximity/enclosed space for twelve hours or more.
A low-risk contact has been defined as someone who handled clothes, fomites and linen, or someone who had casual physical contact with body fluid exposure.
