A 14-year-old boy has died of the Nipah virus infection in Kerala’s Malappuram district, marking the fourth time in five years that this deadly virus, which resides in fruit-eating bats, has spread to humans in the state.

Health authorities have begun an active case search within the boy’s family and neighbourhood and are trying to trace his contacts over the past 12 days as part of public health measures to contain the virus.

The Union health ministry said on Sunday that it would deploy a central team to support the state in investigating the case to unravel the possible source of the infection and providing other technical assistance.

The boy had been admitted to a health facility in Perinthalmanna before being transferred to a hospital in Kozhikode, the ministry said. The Indian Council of Medical Research, at the state’s request, had sent a potential treatment known as monoclonal antibodies directed against the infection, which had reached before the patient died but could not be used due to his poor general condition, the ministry said.

The state has been advised strict quarantine of contacts and isolation of any suspects with symptoms.

This is the fourth instance of a Nipah virus infection in Kerala since an outbreak of 23 cases in 2018, a single case in 2021, and at least four cases last year.

The standard public health response to Nipah outbreaks involves tracing and quarantining all close contacts of patients, testing and isolating anyone who shows symptoms and establishing perimeter zones to prevent the spread of the infection.