Gert van der Hoek
In Memoriam - Editor, Senior Moderator
Chikungunya spreading fast
Sunday November 25 2007
BHUBANESWAR: Chikungunya is spreading - and spreading really fast. Once reported from a handful of districts - Ganjam, Kendrapara and Nayagarh - this viral fever is now found across a larger territory.
If the latest reports are to be believed, chikungunya has been reported from as many as 10 districts in 2007 and that should act as a warning signal.
Sources in the Health Department said samples sent to Regional Medical Research Centre (RMRC) have confirmed presence of virus in 10 districts of the State.
The Directorate of Health Services (DHS) had collected samples from Bhadrak, Ganjam, Jajpur, Kendrapara, Nayagarh, Ganjam, Puri, Khurda, Balasore, Cuttack and Jagatsinghpur before referring them to RMRC. As many as 72 samples tested from 10 districts were found positive.
The first case of chikungunya was reported from Sundargarh?s Panposh in 2005 and in the subsequent year, Ganjam and Kendrapara districts threw up fresh cases.
Earlier this year, Nayagarh reported a number of chikungunya cases. RMRC, which conducted its test projects in Puri and Nayagarh, confirmed that chikungunya was spreading its tentacles fast in these two districts. As many as 62 samples tested positive. ??The State Government needs to be careful since chikungunya is rampant in a number of south Indian States and has claimed lives too. In Orissa, it is yet to prove fatal but it is not something one can sit pretty on,?? said a senior official.
Sample collection and subsequent studies found that one of the major reasons for its spread has been the vector Aedes aegypti?s density. With no entemological study available in the State, things do not look well. But a bigger worry could be dengue. Though DHS-referred samples did not test positive in any of the districts, RMRC has reported incidence, sources said.
Although most of the dengue positive cases are imported, the problem is that the virus is already here and so is its carrier, the same as that of chikungunya.
http://www.newindpress.com/NewsItem...ikungunya+spreading+fast&Title=ORISSA&Topic=0
Sunday November 25 2007
BHUBANESWAR: Chikungunya is spreading - and spreading really fast. Once reported from a handful of districts - Ganjam, Kendrapara and Nayagarh - this viral fever is now found across a larger territory.
If the latest reports are to be believed, chikungunya has been reported from as many as 10 districts in 2007 and that should act as a warning signal.
Sources in the Health Department said samples sent to Regional Medical Research Centre (RMRC) have confirmed presence of virus in 10 districts of the State.
The Directorate of Health Services (DHS) had collected samples from Bhadrak, Ganjam, Jajpur, Kendrapara, Nayagarh, Ganjam, Puri, Khurda, Balasore, Cuttack and Jagatsinghpur before referring them to RMRC. As many as 72 samples tested from 10 districts were found positive.
The first case of chikungunya was reported from Sundargarh?s Panposh in 2005 and in the subsequent year, Ganjam and Kendrapara districts threw up fresh cases.
Earlier this year, Nayagarh reported a number of chikungunya cases. RMRC, which conducted its test projects in Puri and Nayagarh, confirmed that chikungunya was spreading its tentacles fast in these two districts. As many as 62 samples tested positive. ??The State Government needs to be careful since chikungunya is rampant in a number of south Indian States and has claimed lives too. In Orissa, it is yet to prove fatal but it is not something one can sit pretty on,?? said a senior official.
Sample collection and subsequent studies found that one of the major reasons for its spread has been the vector Aedes aegypti?s density. With no entemological study available in the State, things do not look well. But a bigger worry could be dengue. Though DHS-referred samples did not test positive in any of the districts, RMRC has reported incidence, sources said.
Although most of the dengue positive cases are imported, the problem is that the virus is already here and so is its carrier, the same as that of chikungunya.
http://www.newindpress.com/NewsItem...ikungunya+spreading+fast&Title=ORISSA&Topic=0