Nipah virus: 20-year-old mason quarantined, tests on

KOLKATA: A 20-year-old mason from Domkal, Murshidabad, who returned from Kerala’s Ernakulam three days ago, has been quarantined at the ID Hospital Beliaghata on Monday. Ashik Mondal is the second patient to be kept in the isolation ward of this hospital as it has been designated as the apex hospital for treatment of Nipah virus (NiP). Health department officials, however, said they were yet to get confirmatory reports on both patients.
Mondal had been working in Ernakulam for the past six months and had returned to Domkal on Saturday with fever and cough.He was initially admitted to Murshidabad Medical College on Sunday. But after checking on his travel history, doctors referred him to ID Hospital on Monday. His blood and urine samples are being tested.
“My nephew was moved to isolation right after we reached the ID Hospital around 12 noon. We have been asked to wear a mask while visiting him,” said his uncle Ashraful Mandal.
According to the family Ashik has been suffering from an unknown fever and sore throat for about 20 days. The 20-year-old, kept under a mosquito net, is being made to wear an N 95 mask. “It might not be a case of NiV infection but we are following the protocols as a precautionary measures.
Samples are being sent for confirmatory tests,” said a health department official.
Earlier on Wednesday, Shafikul Sheikh (18) from Rezinagar in Murshidabad, was admitted in the Beliaghata Hospital.
Like Mandal, Shafikul too, had returned from Bangalore and was suffering from fever for about 21 days before his admission in ID Hospital.