Kerala’s Kasargod district in the grip of fever
June 20th, 2008 - 9:54 pm ICT by IANS
Kasargod (Kerala), June 20 (IANS) Kerala’s northern district of Kasargod is in the grip of a viral fever, which has symptoms similar to chikungunya, and as many as 33,254 cases have been reported in the last 50 days. Of these, 6,147 are suspected to be chikungunya, according to the office of the district medical officer.
On Thursday, 1,629 people afflicted with fever visited various hospitals in the district, which has a population of around 1.2 million.
“The outbreak here was first reported in areas bordering Karnataka. Now the fever has affected 75 percent of the district - around 33 village panchayats,” said C.P. Sreedharan, the district medical officer.
Last year, a severe outbreak of the disease was reported from state’s southern districts of Kottayam, Pathanamthitta and Alappuzha. Chikungunya is transmitted through the bite of infected mosquitoes, usually of the genus Aedes.
Health authorities said they are taking steps to control the breeding of mosquitoes.
“We have been carrying out disease source reduction activities to contain the fever. But we feel that our work failed to have the desired effect as the fever continued to spread,” said Sreedharan.
The outbreak is more serious in areas in Karnataka close to the Kerala border, health officials said, adding that they were coordinating their activities with officials in Karnataka to contain the disease.
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