Snowy Owl
Retired in 2010, In Memoriam
Chikungunya epidemic declared in Habra
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=4 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=articleheader>Epidemic declared
</TD></TR><TR><TD class=articleauthor>A STAFF REPORTER</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1070808/asp/calcutta/story_8163835.asp
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=4 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=articleheader>Epidemic declared
</TD></TR><TR><TD class=articleauthor>A STAFF REPORTER</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1070808/asp/calcutta/story_8163835.asp
The health department has declared a chikungunya epidemic in Habra, in North 24-Parganas, where 200 more cases of fever were reported on Tuesday.
?There is an outbreak of the disease there. It is an epidemic,? a state health department official said.
With Tuesday?s cases, the number of people affected with chikungunya or similar symptoms in Habra and its adjoining areas has gone up to 715.
On Monday, 26 blood samples from Habra and five from Calcutta were tested for chikungunya by Indian Council of Medical Research, Calcutta.
Four samples from Calcutta and all 26 from Habra tested positive.
Of the four patients in Calcutta, three are local residents ? Arpita Das, 14, of Akhil Mistry Lane, Sealdah; Mousumi Bera, 15, of Sura Cross Lane, Narkeldanga, and Robin Pal, 34, of Baranagar.
The fourth ? Mithun Prasad ? had come from Bihar and returned after treatment.
No fresh case of viral fever was reported from the city on Tuesday.
The state health department and the Calcutta Municipal Corporation (CMC) are taking ?special measures? to prevent the spread of the chikungunya virus, which has resurfaced after 44 years.
Municipal commissioner Alapan Bandyopadhyay on Tuesday discussed steps to tackle chikungunya, malaria and dengue with chief municipal health officer (CMOH) Deb Dwaipayan Chattopadhyay.
Bandyopadhyay asked the CMOH to make sure that patients suspected to be suffering from chikungunya or dengue are sent to School of Tropical Medicine for blood tests.
State health officials, too, have discussed the situation with the CMC.
Civic health officials visited chikungunya victims on Tuesday. One of them, Mousumi Bera, is now recovering.
She had been suffering from fever, with an incapacitating joint pain, since July 21. ?The fever has almost subsided and she is feeling much better now,? said sister Munmun Sardar.
?There is an outbreak of the disease there. It is an epidemic,? a state health department official said.
With Tuesday?s cases, the number of people affected with chikungunya or similar symptoms in Habra and its adjoining areas has gone up to 715.
On Monday, 26 blood samples from Habra and five from Calcutta were tested for chikungunya by Indian Council of Medical Research, Calcutta.
Four samples from Calcutta and all 26 from Habra tested positive.
Of the four patients in Calcutta, three are local residents ? Arpita Das, 14, of Akhil Mistry Lane, Sealdah; Mousumi Bera, 15, of Sura Cross Lane, Narkeldanga, and Robin Pal, 34, of Baranagar.
The fourth ? Mithun Prasad ? had come from Bihar and returned after treatment.
No fresh case of viral fever was reported from the city on Tuesday.
The state health department and the Calcutta Municipal Corporation (CMC) are taking ?special measures? to prevent the spread of the chikungunya virus, which has resurfaced after 44 years.
Municipal commissioner Alapan Bandyopadhyay on Tuesday discussed steps to tackle chikungunya, malaria and dengue with chief municipal health officer (CMOH) Deb Dwaipayan Chattopadhyay.
Bandyopadhyay asked the CMOH to make sure that patients suspected to be suffering from chikungunya or dengue are sent to School of Tropical Medicine for blood tests.
State health officials, too, have discussed the situation with the CMC.
Civic health officials visited chikungunya victims on Tuesday. One of them, Mousumi Bera, is now recovering.
She had been suffering from fever, with an incapacitating joint pain, since July 21. ?The fever has almost subsided and she is feeling much better now,? said sister Munmun Sardar.