Kerala: 9-year-old child’s recovery from Nipah virus a rare success story, feat for medical world

The young boy was on ventilator support for a week, hovering between life and death. His recovery makes for one of the world’s first globally recorded Nipah patients to spring back to good health after being plugged into life support for a week.

A young mother’s desperate pleas and prayers were put to relief on September 29, when her nine-year-old son recovered from the deadly Nipah virus in Kerala’ Kozhikode. The mother, who was quarantined at a village in Kozhikode, had made anguished pleas to Kerala Health minister Veena George on September 16 over video call, asking “Won’t you give back my son alive?”

The young boy was on ventilator support for a week, hovering between life and death. His recovery has come as a feat for the medical community as well, as this makes for one of the world’s first globally recorded Nipah patients to make recovery after being plugged into life support for a week. 

The mother, who waited at MIMS hospital to embrace her child, said to Indian Express, “I had left everything to God, who worked through the doctors. I feared the worst… I cried before the minister in the video call to get my son back. After he was removed from the ventilator last week, doctors at the hospital connected him to me through video call. I saw that he was recovering.”

“Every day, local health workers and panchayat authorities looked after me while I was in quarantine. They attended to all my needs. Doctors called me every day, providing mental support, ” the mother further added.

The woman had already lost her 47-year-old husband to this zoonotic disease at Maruthonkara panchayat in Kozhikode. The man died with symptoms of pneumonia on August 30.

The woman remained quarantined at home with her four-year-old daughter while her son battled for life. 

The boy’s uncle and two other positive cases that were under treatment in Kozhikode have tested negative for infection too, freeing the district from the deadly virus’ shadow. 

“In 2023, the outbreak could be contained right from the beginning due to accurate and timely diagnosis and collective efforts to prevent the spread,” Dr Anoopkumar, who was instrumental in diagnosing the virus this time as well as in 2018 in the state, said.