COIMBATORE: Test results of blood serum samples of 10 patients have confirmed cases of chikungunya in Coimbatore district. Out of the 41 samples sent to the National Institute of Virology in Pune, health officials here have received the results of 15, of which 10 are confirmed cases of chikungunya.

A health official said on Monday that none of the confirmed cases were from the city. Six of them were from Tamaraikulam village at Nallatipalayam near Kinathukadavu in Pollachi taluk.

The other four were from the Tirupur municipal limits.

As for the question whether the city and its periphery were not affected, this would be revealed by the results of the other samples that were yet to come from Pune, the official said.

Krishnagiri to Erode

Though not described an outbreak, this confirmation by health authorities in the district announced chikungunya's invasion in Coimbatore also after leaving thousands of persons debilitated across western Tamil Nadu, right from Krishnagiri to Erode.

Health authorities in Coimbatore and the Nilgiris districts maintained till recently that there were no cases of chikungunya and that complaint of high temperature and severe joint pain could be cases of some other viral fever.

Symptomatic treatment

This contention from the authorities continued even as large number of people in villages near the city and certain areas in the suburbs such as Thondamuthur queued up at clinics and hospitals complaining of symptoms of chikungunya.

Even as symptomatic treatment began, blood serum samples were sent to the institute in Pune and Coimbatore waited for the results holding on to its `chikungunya-free' status.

Transmission

One of the theories was that people who worked in affected districts contracted the alpha virus (that caused the disease), transmitted by the Aedes aegypti mosquito. So, the usual transmission mode of man-mosquito-man might have led to these cases here.

Awareness programme

The Health Department has already drawn up an elaborate awareness programme across the district. From prevention, the focus will now shift to effective control.

Intensive drive

Even as location-specific control measures will begin immediately, the Health Department has planned to begin on September 4 a house-to-house survey and sensitisation programme across the district.

The focus will be on controlling mosquito breeding, such as preventing the stagnation of fresh water in discarded tyres and coconut shells and unsafe storage of water in open containers.

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