The Kerala One Health Centre for Nipah Research, being set up in Kozhikode, has been envisioned as an institution that could also play a pivotal role in preventing future outbreaks of the zoonotic disease that can be transmitted from animals to humans.
According to official sources, the centre will be attached to the Microbiology department of the Government Medical College in the initial phase. Subsequently, it will move out to have its own building having upgraded infrastructure. The Directorate of Medical Education, Directorate of Health Services, Department of Forests and Wildlife, Department of Agriculture, and the Department of Animal Husbandry will be involved in its operations. The National Health Mission too will be part of it.
Though Health Minister Veena George was expected to open the centre on October 26, the event was postponed due to the Minister’s ill health. It is likely to be held in November. The facility was proposed in Kozhikode against the backdrop of the recurring episodes of the Nipah infection here, in 2018, 2021, and 2023. It is expected to conduct research studies on issues such as the source of the infection and the spillover mechanism of the Nipah virus from fruit-eating bats, considered to be its natural reservoirs.
