Udupi: Deputy Commissioner (DC) Priyanka Mary Francis, on Monday, January 14, said that there has not been any case of monkey fever in Udupi district so far, but extensive precautionary measures have been taken to prevent the spreading of the disease in the district.
The deputy commissioner presided over the District Comprehensive Disease Surveillance Committee, which was held at the Rajathadri Hall in the DC office premises and spoke monkey fever.
“The deaths of monkeys is a forecast of the disease. Monkey fever does not spread from one human to another. If a person is affected by the disease, he/she will have fever for 8 to 10 days, with severe headache, back pain, pain in the limbs, weakness and red eyes. Two weeks after being affected by the fever, the patient might suffer from bleeding in the nose, mouth and anus. With the illness also relating to the brain, its intensity depends on the resistance power of the patient,” said DC Priyanka.
“The Health Department, Animal Husbandry Department, Forest Department and Panchayat Raj Department should be constantly alert. The officials concerned should also spread awareness about the disease among people and work with responsibility during emergency situations. Any case of unnatural death of monkeys should be immediately reported to the Health Department and the Animal Husbandry Department should conduct the post-mortem on such monkeys. Organs of the dead monkeys should be sent for viral test. Posters highlighting the causes and precautionary measures of the disease should be posted in public places,” added the deputy commissioner.
“Medicines and medical inventories should be kept ready by the Health Department as precautionary measures. Malathion sterilization should be sprayed in the surrounding 50 meters of the place where a dead monkey is found. And also the place should be regularly examined and reported,” the DC added.
District Health and Family Welfare Officer, Dr. Rohini said, “There has been reports of deaths of 20 monkeys so far in the district, and organ samples of 11 monkeys have been sent for examination. The reports will be produced in two days. Health Department officials of all the taluks in the district and District Malaria Officer Dr. Prashanth Bhat have been assigned as Nodal Officers, and have been instructed to produce daily reports regarding the disease. About 120 bottles of DMP oil had been supplied to the district earlier and 960 more have been supplied again. The DMP oil bottles will be supplied to the tribal communities, Forest Department employees and Anti-Naxal Force (ANF) staff as per requirements. Treatment for monkey fever is available in all the Primary Health Centres of the district, and dedicated doctors have been appointed to treat the patients affected by the disease.”
Medical Superintendent of Manipal Hospital Dr. Avinash Shetty also spoke on the occassion. “Seventy three patients have been admitted to Manipal Hospital on suspicion of being affected by monkey disease and 27 cases have been confirmed so far. So far 50 patients have recovered and 23 are undergoing treatment. Among them, 12 have been tested positive. Separate wards have been allotted for male and female patients and a dedicated doctor Prof. Dr. Kavitha has been assigned with the treatment of these patients. All the patients are receiving free treatment under the ‘Arogya Karnataka Scheme.’ There has not been any incident of death due to monkey fever so far, and nobody from Udupi district has been infected. All the infected patients are from Sagar taluk of Shivamogga,” Dr. Shetty said.
Zilla Panchayat Deputy Secretary Nagesh Raikar, World Health Organization representative Satishchandra, Dr. Arun Kumar from KMC Hospital, several district level officials and representatives of several NGOs were present on the occasion.
