Snowy Owl
Retired in 2010, In Memoriam
<arttitle>Doctors fear chikungunya has stung city
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1849887.cms
</arttitle> MUMBAI/THANE: There is no official confirmation yet about the arrival of chikungunya in Mumbai, but doctors believe the viral fever characterised by arthritic pain is already here.
A housewife from Sion-Koliwada Sandhya Gupta is at present undergoing treatment at Bombay Hospital for the disease even as Thane resident Leela Bankar is being treated at a local nursing home.
Their blood samples have been sent to the National Institute of Virology, Pune, along with samples of four Byculla residents admitted to state-run JJ Hospital on Thursday, said officials.
Three samples belonging to a Vakola couple and another Goregaon resident were sent to NIV last week, but civic executive health officer Dr J Thanekar told TOI on Thursday evening that there was no official confirmation yet.
However, Professor Hemant Gupta from JJ Hospital who consults at Bombay Hospital believes that his patient, Sandhya Gupta, has chikungunya.
"She had multiple joint pain and fever when she came to me after 10 days of suffering," he said. Sandhya Gupta went to an orthopaedic doctor for the joint pain and put on a course of aspirin.
"But her fever didn't subside and when I saw her for the first time she had a 'cramped' look as well as a rash, standard symptoms of chikungunya," explained Dr Gupta.
Incidentally, the BMC has chosen to play down chikungunya, which is rampant in 20 districts of the state, because it is rarely a fatal disease.
"There is no fatality or mortality attached to chikungunya. Moreover, once a person gets it , he/she becomes immune for life," said Dr Thanekar.
More importantly, he added, the disease is not transmitted from person to person. Chikungunya is spread by the Aedes Aegypti mosquitoes, which also spreads dengue.
A person has to be bitten by an infected mosquito to contract the disease. Meanwhile, Dr Dhananjay Dangat, who practises in the Pawar Nagar of Thane (W), told TOI that his patient Bankar had just returned from a trip to Aurangabad.
"She may have contracted the disease there," Dr Dangat said. Dr Hemant Gupta also said that he had treated two other patients in the last month with chikungunya.
"One had come from Jalgaon and was discharged on Thursday while an Andhra Pradesh bank official was admitted last month," he added.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1849887.cms
</arttitle> MUMBAI/THANE: There is no official confirmation yet about the arrival of chikungunya in Mumbai, but doctors believe the viral fever characterised by arthritic pain is already here.
A housewife from Sion-Koliwada Sandhya Gupta is at present undergoing treatment at Bombay Hospital for the disease even as Thane resident Leela Bankar is being treated at a local nursing home.
Their blood samples have been sent to the National Institute of Virology, Pune, along with samples of four Byculla residents admitted to state-run JJ Hospital on Thursday, said officials.
Three samples belonging to a Vakola couple and another Goregaon resident were sent to NIV last week, but civic executive health officer Dr J Thanekar told TOI on Thursday evening that there was no official confirmation yet.
However, Professor Hemant Gupta from JJ Hospital who consults at Bombay Hospital believes that his patient, Sandhya Gupta, has chikungunya.
"She had multiple joint pain and fever when she came to me after 10 days of suffering," he said. Sandhya Gupta went to an orthopaedic doctor for the joint pain and put on a course of aspirin.
"But her fever didn't subside and when I saw her for the first time she had a 'cramped' look as well as a rash, standard symptoms of chikungunya," explained Dr Gupta.
Incidentally, the BMC has chosen to play down chikungunya, which is rampant in 20 districts of the state, because it is rarely a fatal disease.
"There is no fatality or mortality attached to chikungunya. Moreover, once a person gets it , he/she becomes immune for life," said Dr Thanekar.
More importantly, he added, the disease is not transmitted from person to person. Chikungunya is spread by the Aedes Aegypti mosquitoes, which also spreads dengue.
A person has to be bitten by an infected mosquito to contract the disease. Meanwhile, Dr Dhananjay Dangat, who practises in the Pawar Nagar of Thane (W), told TOI that his patient Bankar had just returned from a trip to Aurangabad.
"She may have contracted the disease there," Dr Dangat said. Dr Hemant Gupta also said that he had treated two other patients in the last month with chikungunya.
"One had come from Jalgaon and was discharged on Thursday while an Andhra Pradesh bank official was admitted last month," he added.