Staff Correspondent

Nipah virus claimed two more lives on Saturday, raising the death toll to six since its fresh outbreak was reported last week in Manikganj and Rajbari districts.

Rabiul Mullah, 9 and Neyamat Sheikh, 55 died at Rajbari Sadar Hospital on Saturday. Earlier, Shakil Mullah, 11 died on Thursday in Rajbari, while Yusuf, 7, Azahar, 9 and Joshna Akhter Joshi, 11— three children of a family— died in Manikganj.

The Institute of Epidemiology Diseases Control and Research on Saturday confirmed that all the six deaths were caused by nipah virus, which staged a comeback after a gap of three years and was now concentrated on two districts.

Three nipah inflicted persons were cured while two others were undergoing treatment at Rajbari Sadar Hospital, the institute said in a press release.

Biochemical test carried out in IEDCR laboratory detected nipah virus, which causes encephalitis and spreads to humans mainly by fruit bats. Virologists said the virus causes fatal inflammation of the brain, associated with high fever often leading to unconsciousness.

They advised people in the nipah-prevalent areas not to eat fruits bitten or half-bitten by fruit bats, or drink raw juices of palm and date trees.

They also suggested that date juice should not be collected in open pitchers. Two teams from IEDCR have been working in the nipah-affected areas.

A team comprising medical officers Sharmin Sultana and Nusrat Humaira was sent to Rajbari. The institute’s senior scientific officer Saima Afroz is leading another team in Manikganj.

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