Bangalore: City hospitals are still reporting a large number of suspected `chikungunya' cases, even though Health Department officials claim that the disease has been brought under control and that there were hardly any cases reported from the city.

The Government-run Victoria Hospital and Bowring and Lady Curzon Hospital have been receiving patients with symptoms of "chikungunya". But most of them were not of a severe form and were treated in the outpatient department, hospital authorities said.

Private clinics have been reporting suspected cases of "chikungunya" and doctors said they have been seeing an average of four or five cases in a day.

In Victoria Hospital, one person with symptoms of the disease was admitted for severe vomiting, joint pain and high fever. Doctors in the outpatient department of the hospital are examining six patients of suspected "chikungunya" cases every day.

Most of these cases are reported from Magadi Road, Srinagar and Parvathipura slums near Sanjaynagar in the city.

"We are getting a lot of cases from Tumkur, Kolar, Bidar and from the outskirts of Bangalore," a senior doctor at the hospital said. The hospital authorities said that a camp had been conducted by the hospital for around 150 people from the Parvathipura slum, and medicines were disbursed to all of them, who showed symptoms of the ailment.

A doctor in south Bangalore said that four persons from the same family who showed symptoms of "chikungunya" had come to him for treatment of which two had been admitted in a private hospital.

According to the Health and Family Welfare Department officials, the department had taken up regular surveillance in all the districts of the State, including Bangalore (Urban) and Bangalore (Rural).

In all, 212 confirmed cases, which tested positive at the National Institute of Virology, had been reported from the State.

M.G. Prasad, Director, Health and Family Welfare Services, told The Hindu that fogging measures and cleanliness initiatives had been taken up in the Bangalore Mahanagara Palike limits and the department was collaborating with the Women and Child Welfare and Education departments to create awareness among the people about "chikungunya".

"Since March, the Government has released Rs. 2.5 crore to buy additional drugs and fogging machines to bring the ailment under control," he said. He said "chikungunya" was not fatal and could be treated with simple medication and asked the public not to panic.

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