Kerala Progresses in Nipah Virus Prevention, IAV Creates New Testing System
Kerala has made progress in preventing Nipah virus with a new pseudovirus testing system developed by the Institute of Advanced Virology (IAV), Thiruvananthapuram. This system helps detect Nipah infection in humans and animals. It is useful because the disease can spread from bats to animals and then to humans.
The test can help find animals that carry the virus and prevent its spread to pigs and humans. It can also help check if people who came in contact with Nipah patients are infected, even if they have no symptoms. IAV has also created similar pseudoviruses for four types of dengue and for rabies.
RT-PCR and TrueNAT tests are now used to find Nipah at an early stage. Pseudovirus and ELISA tests work differently. They detect antibodies that appear in the body after infection.
The IAV in Thonnakkal, along with VRDL labs in Kozhikode and Manjeri and NIV labs in Alappuzha and Pune, plays an important role in Nipah testing. This new system is a research success that will make Kerala’s health system stronger and help protect public health.
