Daijiworld Media Network – Bengaluru
Bengaluru, Dec 25: Health minister Dinesh Gundu Rao on Wednesday asked officials to step up preparedness to ensure that deaths caused by Kyasanur Forest Disease (KFD), commonly known as monkey fever, are brought down to zero.
Announcing a major boost to testing capacity, he said a new KFD testing laboratory will soon be set up in Sirsi in Uttara Kannada district.
Reviewing KFD prevention and containment measures at a meeting with health department officials at Vidhana Soudha, the minister said the move was necessitated by mounting pressure on the lone testing facility currently operating in Shivamogga. “All the required equipment has already been procured and the Sirsi laboratory will begin operations shortly. This will significantly benefit people in the Sirsi and Siddapur regions,” he said.
KFD cases typically spike between October and June every year, with Shivamogga, Uttara Kannada, Chikkamagaluru and Udupi districts reporting the highest incidence. The minister said the health department is fully geared to control the disease and that regular and systematic screening is being carried out in vulnerable areas.
Preventive screening has been conducted on 1,163 people in Shivamogga, 124 in Chikkamagaluru, 368 in Uttara Kannada, and 12 in Udupi. The infection was detected in 13 people, all of whom have since recovered.
To strengthen clinical response, KMC Manipal, SIMS Shivamogga and KRIMS Karwar have been designated as referral hospitals. Doctors in government hospitals have been trained, and treatment facilities have been put in place at taluk hospitals in Thirthahalli, Sagara, Siddapura, Honnavara, Koppa and N R Pura. The minister said patients who recover after receiving treatment in the early stages of the disease will be kept under continuous health surveillance for 21 days.
“All patients will be provided free ambulance services and complete treatment,” he said, adding that medicines and medical infrastructure are being readied well in advance. “As our aim this year is that not even a single death should occur, all preparations are being made now itself,” he added.
The minister also said the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) is currently conducting clinical trials of a new KFD vaccine, which is expected to be made available to the public within a year.