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Sri Lankan Health Authorities on alert about Nipah Virus Nipah outbreak in Kerala, India Source : dailynews Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Health has placed orders to import testing kits to detect Nipah infections after the southern Indian state of Kerala reported an outbreak of the bat-borne virus. Following the outbreak in Kerala, the Indian government has moved to institute mass testing to arrest the spread of the Nipah virus. The southern Indian state has thus far reported two deaths from the virus infections with more than 700 people testing positive. Nipah is a rare but potentially serious virus that can cause fever, vomiting and respiratory infections in humans. Symptoms appear from 4 – 14 days after exposure. Fruit bats of the Pteropodidae family are the natural hosts of Nipah virus. Most often, severe cases involve seizures and encephalitis (inflammation of the brain) and can progress to a coma within 24-48 hours, ...