The Ministry of Health and Medical Services is monitoring the outbreak of the Nipah virus in Kozhikode District in Kerala, India.
Permanent Secretary for Health Dr James Fong said so far there have been six confirmed cases and two deaths, with extensive contact tracing and testing by the Indian Health Authorities.
Dr Fong said the last case was reported on 15 September.
He said it is important to maintain awareness and readiness to infectious disease threats from beyond our borders.
Dr Fong said that early detection of outbreaks is reliant upon the vigilance of our health professionals and effective surveillance systems to detect unusual events.
“The Fiji Centre for Disease Control (Fiji CDC) conducts annual Divisional Outbreak Response Team (DORT) training before the rainy season in the divisions for health professional that includes early detection and rapid response to outbreaks.”
Dr Fong added that a number of disease surveillance systems designed to assist with early outbreak detection.
The Nipah virus was first discovered in Malaysia in 1998 where it caused an outbreak associated with transmission of the virus from infected pigs to humans.
