Fruit bat samples in Kerala yield Nipah virus antibodies

Fruit bat samples in Kerala yield Nipah virus antibodies

Subject – Science and Tech

Context – Investigations into the source of Kerala’s third tryst with the Nipah virus early this month appeared to reach some closure on Wednesday, with the National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune, detecting the presence of IgG antibodies from samples of fruit bats collected from the village of the lone victim in Kozhikode.

Concept –

• Preliminary findings point the finger of suspicion at fruit bats, and it is the first time in three outbreaks that this much has been deduced.

To know about Nipah Virus, please click here.

To know about Antibodies, please click here and here.

National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune

• The National Institute of Virology is one of the major Institutes of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).
• It was established at Pune, Maharashtra in 1952 as Virus Research Centre (VRC) under the auspices of the ICMR and the Rockefeller Foundation (RF), USA.
• It has been designated as a WHO H5 reference laboratory for SE Asia region.
• The NIV is identified today as the WHO Collaborating Centres for arboviruses reference and hemorrhagic fever reference and research. NIV is also the National Monitoring Centre for Influenza, Japanese encephalitis, Rota, Measles, Hepatitis and Coronavirus.