The Nipah virus present in the bodies of infected persons in the 2023 episode in Kozhikode district has not undergone genetic mutations, compared with the samples tested in earlier outbreaks, Health Minister Veena George has said.
She told mediapersons here on Tuesday evening that the Indian Council of Medical Research-National Institute of Virology, Pune, had conducted a genomic sequencing of the virus present in the infected patients and fruit-eating bats from the affected areas in the 2018, 2019, and 2021 outbreaks. They were found to be similar.
“The results of the genomic sequencing of the human virus [present in infected persons this time] were made available today. They are almost similar to the previous ones,” Ms. George said. More studies would be held.
