Monkey corpse found in Kundapur

• Fear of monkey fever looms

Kundapur: A corpse of a monkey with blood oozing out of its ears has been found lying at Siddapur in the taluk on Tuesday January 8. With 6 people dying due to monkey fever also known as Kyasanur Forest Disease, in the neighbouring Shimoga district, people in the region are worried of the possible spread of the disease here.

The corpse of a four-year-old female monkey was found in the backside of Shankar Yadiyala’s residence near JMJ Garage in Siddapur village. Immediately after finding the corpse, the family informed the panchayat development officer of the local gram panchayat who in turn passed on the information to the health and forest department.

Veterinary officer of Shankaranarayana conducted postmortem of the animal in the presence of officials and the general public after which the corpse was burnt.

As the Vulnerable Disease Laboratory in the state is located only in Shimoga, entomologist of the laboratory, Dr Mukta, collected the viscera samples of the monkey and the lice for testing.

Do not panic

The district health officer, Dr Rohini has asked the people not to panic. She informed that the samples of the monkey have been sent for testing and that all doubts will be cleared once test result is received. Meanwhile, she also advised people affected by fever to go to the nearest hospital immediately and take more care if fever persists for over ten to 15 days. People need to stay away from forests, not to let their pets into the forest and not to kill monkeys out of suspicion, she advised.