Nurse taking care of Nipah patients dies; death toll rises
NATIONAL | May 22, 2018 (TNN):
Lini (31), the nurse at Perambra Taluk Hospital who died on Monday after possibly getting exposed to the deadly virus while tending to a Nipah virus +infected patient, died without even getting a chance to bid adieu to her loved ones, including her two kids and husband.
With Lini's death, the toll has now gone up to 10. On Sunday, the toll had risen to nine with the death of six more persons who had shown symptoms of the disease. Of this, two deaths were reported from Kozhikode and four from Malappuram district.
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The stamp of sacrifice was there at her funeral, too. Her family from Chembanoda region near Peruvannamuzhi allowed the health department to cremate at an electric crematorium in the city without taking the body home to avoid the spread of the virus. "In her last days, she realised she had contacted a possibly-fatal infection after the youth from Changaroth — whom she had attended to in the initial stages — died. She lived to help others and her death has become a sacrifice," said her maternal uncle V Balan.
Her two children, Sidharth (5) and Rithul (2), couldn't give their mother one last kiss. On hearing that Lini was sick, her husband Sajeesh had come home from the Gulf two days ago.
