Dengue panic in Delhi, chikungunya kills 64 in Kerala
Reshma Patil and Ketaki Ghoge
Mumbai
DELHI TEETERED on the brink of panic over a dengue fever outbreak with over 500 suspected cases — and an inter- national team was ready to fly to Kerala to investigate 64 suspected chikungunya deaths — as a mosquito species sparked fears of urban epidemics.
In Maharashtra — 4,000 samples of suspected chikun- gunya and dengue cases have been tested at the Pune-based National Institute of Virology over the last nine months — health officials now suspect that Kerala’s outbreak originated in the state. “Currently, chikungunya is certainly an epidemic in India,” T. Jacob John, former head of clinical virology at Christian Medical College, Vellore, told HT. “The numbers are in lakhs. Where the Aedes aegypti mosquito population density is beyond threshold levels, chikungunya will spread like wildfire.” State Director General of Health Services Dr. P. Doke told HT of a “strong likelihood” that the virus spread from Maharashtra to Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Gujarat and Kerala. In the last nine months, Maharashtra has seen a record 2.7 lakh cases of suspected chikungunya (no deaths reported in the state) that is now suspected as the cause of Kerala’s 64 deaths.
Of the 4,000 samples tested in Maharashtra, two-thirds were proven to be chikungunya, one-third were dengue.
“We have no vaccines for chikungunya and the younger generation has no immunity to it,” said Doke. “The last we had heard of the virus was in 1973 in Barshi, Solapur.” A World Health Organisation team will investigate the Kerala outbreak this week. In Maharashtra,compared to 3,300 suspected cases daily earlier this year since a suspected Indo-African chikungunya virus first surfaced in Takli village, Ahmednagar, about 100 suspected chikungunya cases are now recorded daily. Nine dengue cases were fatal since March — the latest a 22-year-old in Pune.
But unlike dengue, detected since the 1960s, the chikungunya resurgence — back after 33 years — will eventually disappear. “It will disappear after three years,” said John. “It spreads rapidly and infects susceptible individuals. They become im mune and when the concen tration of susceptible individ uals declines in that commu nity, the virus disappears.” 2.7 lakh chikungunya cases in last 9 months in state 3 years is how long disease is expected to last in India The female is deadlier They may fly at no more than 2 kmph and some species live no more than 4 days, but swarms of increasingly insecticide-and drug-resistant mosquitoes are menacing India PEAK BITING PERIODS A few hours after dawn and late afternoon BREEDS In clean water. Danger areas include toilet bowls and wet shower floors DENGUE Dengue fever is severe flu-like illness. Patients suffer headaches, fever and rash but seldom die. No specific treatment, disease runs its course Dengue haemorrhagic fever is a complicated, virulent form. Patients suffer high fever, liver complications and in severe cases, circulatory fever. CHIKUNGUNYA Viral infection characterised by rash, fever and severe joint pain, sometimes confused with dengue fever. Many rebound within a week, but many report arthritic pains that last weeks, if not months Has adapted to living near humans, even reducing the humming of her wings. Usually attacks from below—unlike other species that may fly into your face AEDES AEGYPTI is responsible for both dengue fever and chikungunya The biting is done by female mosquitoes with serrated plungers, which males do not
*Source: http://epaper.hindustantimes.com, dated - Wednesday, October 04,2006.*