June 14, 2007
India on Chikungunya Alert
After 40 Deaths, 7,600 Cases By Shalini
Pant
New Delhi
Many Indian states have sounded an alert for chikungunya, a deadly
mosquito-borne viral disease that has claimed 40 lives in Kerala and
laid down 7,600 in the country.
Even states that have not reported any case are not taking chances
ever since the disease erupted in Kerala towards May-end and began
claiming unsuspecting victims who initially took it to be just
ordinary fever.
Chikungunya is a viral fever that is spread by the aedes aegypti
mosquito, which bites during daytime. The disease can prove fatal if
not treated on time. The usual symptoms include high fever,
headache, nausea, fatigue, swelling of limbs and arthritis.
No state has been hit as badly as Kerala, where a staggering 7,000
people are warded in hospitals and 40 patients have already
succumbed to the disease, sparking panic.
The failure to quarantine the victims in the state has apparently
caused the disease to spread.
The beleaguered authorities say they are doing their best.
Kerala Health Minister P.K. Sreemathi said the government had
allotted about Rs.50 million to battle chikungunya and a dozen
medical teams from the army and navy had been deployed to contain
the outbreak.
The Indian Army Wednesday flew in three cold fogging machines from
Pune's Armed Forces Medical College to Kerala. This is the first
time that these machines are being used in south India to tackle
mosquito breeding.
In desperation, the government has also roped in members of the
National Cadet Corps (NCC) to unleash a week-long cleanliness drive
in Kerala.
In neighbouring Karnataka, officials Thursday reported 482 suspected
chikungunya cases from 21 villages spread over eight districts.
"These are only suspected cases," said G. Shivaram, the joint
director for communicable diseases. Karnataka has set up health
camps in villages bordering Kerala to check affected people from
entering the state.
Tamil Nadu, which too shares a long border with Kerala, has reported
six suspected chikungunya cases. The state has begun fumigating all
trains coming from Kerala.
Tamil Nadu Health and Family Welfare Minister K.K.S.S.R.
Ramachandran said: "People arriving with symptoms of chikunguniya
are being admitted to government hospitals in Tamil Nadu."
The government is moving to appoint 3,850 temporary field health
workers to help eliminate mosquitoes, sanctioning Rs.71 million for
the drive.
It has also initiated steps to rear Kampuchea, a type of fish that
eats mosquito larvae and helps eradicate the mosquito that spreads
the disease.
Andhra Pradesh, which last year reported 80,000 cases, is
fortunately free from chikungunya. But the authorities have launched
a door-to-door sanitation and mosquito-control campaign in high-risk
zones.
Two confirmed cases have also been reported in far away Orissa and
22 in Kolhapur district in Maharashtra while one woman is warded in
a hospital in the national capital New Delhi.
In Orissa, M.M. Pradhan of the National Vector Borne Disease Control
Programme, told IANS that blood samples of 87 people were sent to
the
National Institute of Cholera and Enteric Diseases in Kolkata for
tests.
In Maharashtra, preventive measures are being with particular care
in a radius of five kilometres surrounding the seven villages in
Kolhapur where the disease is actively present.
Sangli and Solapur districts in the vicinity are also preparing to
battle any possible outbreak. Kolhapur's health officer T.A. More
has urged people in the region not to store water in utensils and
tanks.
With Delhi figuring on the chikungunya map, the administrations in
Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and
Chhattisgarh have put their health departments on high alert.
"The National Institute of Communicable Diseases has confirmed the
first case. After an emergency meeting with the civic authorities
and health officials, we have alerted hospitals across the city,"
Delhi's Municipal Health Officer N.K. Yadav told IANS.
Health officials in Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan have been asked to
watch out for any patient showing signs of the disease.
(With inputs from Prashant K.
Nanda, Jaideep Sarin, Sanu George, Anil Sharma, Papri Sri Raman,
Mohammed Shafeeq, Sujeet Kumar, Shyam Pandharipande, Sanjay Sharma
and Fakir Balaji)
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