Karnataka tops national chart for chikungunya cases

• 8,000 chikungunya cases in 7 months
• Dakshina Kanada, Udupi districts one of the most affected areas

Bengaluru: Karnataka has the highest number of cases of chikungunya in the country with as many as 8,644 cases as on July 31^st. Maharashtra comes second in the list with 2.524 cases which is less than a third of the state’s count. Gujarat comes third in the list with 2,103 cases of chikungunya

As per the data submitted in Parliament on August 10 by the Union health ministry, Karnataka contributes 50% of the total 17,311 chikungunya cases in India.

Karnataka had topped the list last year too. Although the number of cases has dropped marginally, the data suggests no lessons have been learnt to stem the spread of the virus.

According to the National Vector-Borne Disease Control Programme, the total 16,976 chikungunya cases reported till July 23, 2017 across the country, of which Karnataka was in the lead with the highest number of cases amounting 8,930.

Dakshina Kannada, Udupi most affected

“The data shows Karnataka has a robust reporting system and surveillance has been intensive compared to other states. This year, naure has come to our rescue since the bountiful monsoon has destroyed larvae. Only in case of intermittent rains, mosquito breeding increases,” said Dr S Pushparaj, director, health and family welfare department. The state health and family welfare department claimed the numbers are misleading.

Udupi, Dakshina Kannada, Haveri, Tumakuru and Bengaluru are the most affected areas in Karnataka.

“There are four governmentrun labs which conduct blood culture tests for chikungunya, but they take four weeks to reveal results. We cannot wait for the report to start treatment since the patient’s condition will deteriorate. Therefore we resort to the ‘Chik IGM test’, a rapid diagnosis test. This, sometimes give false negative results and the diagnosis and treatment are laegely based on the experience of the physician. Cases which returen positive for the rapid diagnosis test are not included in the state’s data,” explained Dr Ambanna Gowda, consultant internal medicine specialist with Fortis Hospital.

“The geriatric population is the worst-affected and recovery takes a long time,” he added.