Dr. Raman Gangakhedkar, the country's leading epidemiologist, during an interview with News18 on September 15 has emphasised the critical need to identify the Nipah virus's source in order to prevent its further spread, saying the Bangladesh strain of is causing severe respiratory problems and has a mortality rate of 90%.
Gangakhedkar further told the news outlet how the Bangladesh strain is different from Malaysian strain saying the latter causes neurological symptoms while the former has severe respiratory issues.
Pertinently, State Health Minister Veena George on Sept 13 had confirmed that the virus strain seen in Kerala was the Bangladesh variant.
Meanwhile, After identifying the index case of the Nipah virus outbreak in Kerala, the state government on Saturday began looking for the source and place from where the patient zero got infected by seeking details of his mobile tower locations.