Two people suspected to be infected with the brain-damaging Nipah virus are under treatment in Karnataka, a health official said on Wednesday, after an outbreak of the rare virus in neighbouring Kerala killed 10.

Symptoms of the virus were seen in a 20-year old woman and a 75-year-old man in Karnataka's port city of Mangalore after they travelled to Kerala and came into contact with infected patients there, Rajesh B.V., a district surveillance officer said by phone.

"They are not confirmed Nipah cases yet, so there is no need to panic ... the situation is under control," he said, adding that blood samples of the two people have been sent to Manipal Centre for Virus Research and results are awaited by Thursday.

The Nipah virus has so far claimed 10 lives in Kozhikode and Malappuram districts in north Kerala while the condition of two persons undergoing treatment for the viral disease is said to be critical
 

Kerala Health Minister K K Shylaja said the World Health Organisation (WHO) has been informed about the outbreak of the virus in Kerala.

Two persons, Rajan and Ashokan, who were undergoing treatment at Kozhikode, died on Tuesday morning, have been confirmed to have contracted the virus, she said. A nursing assistant, Lini, who died on Monday had also contracted the virus, she added.

Of the 18 samples sent for testing, 12 have tested positive for the virus, of which 10 people have died.

The two had come to Kozhikode Medical College Hospital for treatment and had been in touch with one of the infected persons who had died of the virus, the minister said, adding that no fresh case has been reported so far.