Experts said that dense forest cover, extreme climate changes and a large migrant population make the state prone to zoonotic infections.
Kerala is on high alert after a 14-year-old boy in the Malappuram district was diagnosed with Nipah virus infection on Sunday. The re-emergence of the zoonotic disease poses a challenge to the state’s much-lauded robust public health system.
Zoonosis refers to an infectious disease that has crossed over from animals to humans. This transmission occurs when human activities bring them into close contact with infected animals.
Despite the mass destruction of bat colonies across the state and the continuous study of samples at the National Virology Institute in Pune and other leading research centres, the bat connection to the spread of the zoonotic disease remains unconfirmed.