‘Monoclonal antibodies for Nipah treatment to be developed indigenously’

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The monoclonal antibodies which are the only treatment against Nipah infection will be developed indigenously to combat the deadly virus, Kerala Health Minister Veena George said on Wednesday.

George revealed that a decision had been taken by two national and a Kerala government institute to develop monoclonal antibodies.

The Kerala government’s Institute of Advanced Virology, the Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology (RGCB) and the National Institute of Virology in Pune would be involved in the effort, she said.

The minister said it was being considered to develop the antibodies using the cells of patients who recovered from the virus which infected six persons, of whom two died, in Kozhikode district of the state last month.

The minister said the monoclonal antibodies were presently being imported from Australia where they are made according to the Nipah variant present there.

“We need to manufacture it indigenously for the variant seen here,” she said.

The virus strain seen in Kerala was the Bangladesh variant, which has a high mortality rate of around 70-90 per cent.

Citing an ICMR report, the Kerala government on Wednesday said that there was a possibility of Nipah virus presence in bats in Wayanad district of the state.

State Health Minister Veena George said that the Indian Council of Medical Research gave this information based on its studies of the bat samples collected by it.

The minister said that it does not mean there were fresh cases of the virus in that district and was only intended to caution and alert the state’s health system and the general public.

She said that not only in Wayanad, there was a possibility of the virus’ presence in bats in other districts also.