While the Shivamogga district administration is bracing for a third wave, the Malnad district has reported Kyasanur forest disease (KFD). One person has tested positive for KFD, which is a contagious disease. The infected person is admitted to Thirthahalli taluk hospital. This is the first case since 2019 when a tiny village of Aralagodu in Sagar had reported multiple cases and deaths.
A 57 years old woman from Kudige village within Malur public health care center in Thirthahalli Taluk, who was suffering from fever for a couple of days, has been diagnoised with KFD. As this area falls under the KFD zone in dense forest, the health authorities collected her blood sample to test for KFD. Her sample tested positive on Thursday. She was admitted to Thirthahalli Taluk hospital and later moved to Manipal on Friday evening.
District health officer Dr Rajesh Suragihalli said she has tested positive for the KFD. She has mild symptoms; he said adding that there is no cause for worry. Of the fifty samples tested for KFD, one has come back positive, he stated. According to the DHO, the woman had taken a vaccine to protect herself from the KFD vaccine.
Aralagodu in Sagar which created tension after 22 deaths reported in December 2019 just a few months before Covid outbreak. In all 26 people had died within two years. But after Covid outbreak, the KFD decreased in the region. Health department authorities attributed it to people staying away from the forest areas and to the vaccination drives in the area to control the disease.
A team from the National Institute of Virology (NIV) had visited Aralagodu village to collect tics to study the KFD. The report is yet to be submitted to the state government, officials stated.
According to sources the virus has mutated for decades from the first outbreak in Kyasanur village of Sorab Taluk in 1957. District health department has conducted studies about it. ‘We are vigilant about the ticks mutation.We have conducted a survey in KFD stricken villages. Of 300 ticks samples, only 3 have tested positive. We requested the villagers to use precautionary measures and be cautious about monkey deaths at nearby places’, DHO stated.
