CHENNAI: A suspected case of Nipah virus was reported at JIPMER hospital in Pondicherry on Friday.
A 45-year-old man from Chidambaram had visited a local hospital with complaints of fever and other related symptoms of body pain. The hospital authorities had referred him to JIPMER after he reported symptoms of Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES).
The patient had a history of travel to Nipah affected areas in Kerala and the symptoms of Encephalitis have been reported to be indicative of Nipah.
The officials from the health department said that the samples will be sent to the National Institute of Virology (NIV) to test for the presence of virus to confirm if the case is positive for Nipah.
"Most of the suspected cases of Nipah present like Acute Encephalitis Syndrome but the patient had a history of travel to Nipah for work, which makes it highly suspicious for the infection. The result of the test samples will take about 2-3 days for the result. We will confirm based on the test results. However, the patient is being monitored currently, " said an official.
The state health department is keeping a strong vigil on the suspected cases of fever, including Nipah and the Directorate of Public Health and Preventive Medicine had issued instructions to the respective department to stay alert.
So far, no confirmed cases has been reported in Tamil Nadu or Pondicherry this year.