Kerala - Alappuzha   

Cases non-indicative of prevalence of chikungunya: institute

Dennis Marcus Mathew

Says it has not received adequate number of samples

ALAPPUZHA: The Kerala State Institute of Virology and Tropical Diseases here said the number of chikungunya cases confirmed so far in the State, around 120, would not reflect the ground reality. The real figure could be more or even less.

Institute director Rajan Payyappilly told The Hindu that the reason for this was the inadequate number of samples received at the Institute from various districts.

The sample size from Pathanamthitta was reasonably good and a more or less clear picture of the disease situation in that district was available with 69 positive cases.

However, the situation in other districts was vague. For example, only three samples had reached the Institute from Kozhikode till Thursday. Two of these had been confirmed positive chikungunya cases. The same was the case with Kottayam from where very few samples had arrived. Based on this, one could not say that these districts were free from chikungunya or that the prevalence was high there, he said.

The cases of Kollam and Ernakulam, which were "under-represented so far," could become clear soon, as the number of samples was increasing from these areas, Dr. Payyappilly said.

500 samples analysed

Across the State, around 500 samples had been analysed so far, of which 18 per cent had been confirmed positive.

Meanwhile, in Alappuzha, the number of confirmed chikungunya cases rose to eight, with three new cases being confirmed by the Institute on Friday.

These were from Cheruthana, Mannancherry and Pallithode, district medical officer N.N. Murali said.

He said till Thursday, five cases had been confirmed in Alappuzha, which included two from Pulinkunnu, one each from Chennithala, Cherthala and Vettakal.

Eight suspected cases of chikungunya were also reported on Friday in addition to the 12 reported on Thursday.

Serum samples of these were sent to the Virology Institute for analysis.

A total of 704 fresh cases of viral fever were also reported from the district on Friday. The number on Thursday was 604, Dr. Murali said.

Review meeting

The district administration, which convened a review meeting of the district health machinery on Thursday, has issued instructions to the Health staff that all cases of fever and deaths had to be audited and reports submitted on a daily basis.

Samples suspected to be chikungunya or dengue cases were to be sent for analysis to the Virology Institute.

It is learnt that leave applications of all Health department staff have been put on hold and no fresh leaves would be sanctioned for the next two months, barring "critical cases."

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