The Hindu

• Health Department takes up awareness programme
• Fogging operations to be taken up from today
• Blood samples sent to Bangalore for tests

Mangalore, May 22: The District Health and Family Welfare office here has stepped up vigil following reports of six cases of chikungunya in various parts of Dakshina Kannada district. The health authorities have also drawn up plans to take up fogging operations from Monday in areas from where the cases have been reported.

District Health and Family Welfare Officer H Jagannath said here on Sunday May 21 that the six persons could have contracted the fever during their visit to affected areas in other parts of the State. He said there were no reports of the outbreak of the disease in any part of the district so far.

Those who have contracted chikungunya are Tasreen (10), Bi Fathima (44) and Nazir (35), all residents of Konandur in Sagar taluk of Shimoga district, Manjunath (24) of Puttur, Juliet Cutinho (37), a resident of Mangalore presently working in Basavakalyan in Bidar district; and Parvathamma (56) of Chitradurga.

Dr Jagannath said Tasreen, Bi Fathima and Nazir could have contracted the disease back home in Konandur but turned symptomatic during their visit here. Noting that they were provided treatment at a hospital here, Dr Jagannath said they had recovered and were at their relatives' house at Majigudde near Bajpe in Mangalore taluk. Manjunath, a native of Davangere and working in Puttur, could have contracted the disease during his recent visit to Davangere, Jagannath said.

While Juliet had come down to her father's place, Parvathamma had come to her daughter's place, Jagannath said.

He said the health authorities had collected blood samples from Fathima and Manjunath on Saturday May 20 and sent them for confirmatory tests to a laboratory in Bangalore.