Thiruvananthapuram: The Health Department has taken all preventive as well as emergency measures required to contain the outbreak of chikungunya viral fever, which has been reported from four districts, Health Minister P.K. Sreemathy has said.

Addressing a press conference here on Tuesday, Ms. Sreemathy denied allegations that the Health Department had been inefficient in its handling of the epidemic situation. She said detailed investigations by the department into the reported deaths due to chikungunya in Cherthala taluk had found that most of the deaths were actually due to leptospirosis, heart diseases or underlying diseases of the liver or kidney.

"As per the medical investigations into the reported deaths due to chikungunya at Cherthala, most of those who died were suffering from chronic diseases, which were further complicated by the onset of viral fever," she added.

Reports that people were dying due to chikungunya will only serve to create panic among the public about chikungunya, which is self-limiting and hardly as dangerous as dengue fever, Ms. Sreemathy said.

She said the department had intervened effectively to contain the spread of viral fever and that all measures, including redeployment of extra medical and paramedical staff, provision of medicines and mosquito control measures had been adopted in all areas from where the disease had been reported.

In neighbouring States like Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu many people have been affected by chikungunya whereas in Kerala, just over 20,000 cases have been reported so far, she said. District Medical Officers have been asked to allot Rs.20,000 each to all health care institutions for purchasing medicines, IV fluids and for adopting mosquito control measures.

Also, all four affected districts — Thiruvananthapuram, Alappuzha, Ernakulam and Kozhikode — have been allotted Rs.5 lakh for launching preventive action.

Teams of medical experts, including entomologists and epidemiologists, have already been deployed at the affected areas in Cherthala for detailed investigations into the outbreak. Sustained vector control programmes were the only way in which the disease can be contained and this had to be achieved with community participation. Steps were being taken to intensify fogging and source reduction measures in affected districts, the Minister said.

She said she would be visiting Cherthala again on Wednesday, along with senior officials to assess the epidemic control measures in place. She said the situation there was being monitored on a daily basis.

Virology institute

Ms. Sreemathy said a Rs.2.45-crore project has been submitted to the Centre for reviving the Virology Institute in Alappuzha. Once the institute was functional, the State will no longer have to depend on the lab at Pune for virology investigations, she pointed out.

Another project for Rs.6 crore had also been submitted to the Centre for taking up sustained preventive measures against infectious diseases in the State.

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