25-year-old nurse who survived Nipah virus dies of cardiac arrest

Kolkata: A 25-year-old nurse who had recovered from a Nipah virus infection died of cardiac arrest on Thursday at a private hospital at Barasat in North 24 Parganas district of West Bengal, a state health department official said.

The nurse had been taken off ventilator support at the end of January. “She died of cardiac arrest this afternoon. Though she had recovered from Nipah infection, she was suffering from multiple complications,” the official told PTI.

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The woman was one of two health workers in the state who tested positive for Nipah earlier this year. The other, a male nurse, had recovered and returned home.

The deceased, a resident of Katwa in Purba Bardhaman district, had been in a prolonged coma, which severely weakened her immunity, he said.

She also suffered from a lung infection and contracted a hospital-acquired infection while undergoing treatment at the hospital.

“She was trying to regain consciousness, move her limbs, and speak before her condition suddenly deteriorated. She died at around 4:20 PM,” he said, reports PTI.

The nurse had first fallen ill in early January after returning home on December 31 for the New Year holidays and was initially admitted to Burdwan Medical College and Hospital before being shifted to the private hospital in Barasat.

Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that two more nurses were admitted to the Beliaghata ID Hospital in Kolkata after they showed symptoms of the Nipah virus infection, a health department official said. According to a news report, the two were engaged in the treatment of a health worker who tested positive for the Nipah virus at Burdwan Medical College and Hospital.

Nipah virus is a notifiable disease, requiring immediate reporting to the central government.

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