Monkey fever: Team formed for awareness programme in DK district

• Monkey fever surge in Shimoga

Mangaluru: With the surge in Monkey fever cases in Shimoga district, all villages lying along the foothills of the Western Ghats in Dakshina Kannada district are being given awareness on the disease. Separate teams have been created for this as a precautionary measure, said district health and family welfare officer Dr M Ramakrishna Rao at a press conference.

As this disease spreads through ticks, people venturing out towards the forest must be careful. Grazing domestic animals into the forest and the gathering of resources from the forest needs to be stopped for some time, he said.

Inform if a monkey dies

If a dead monkey is found in the forest, it should be immediately reported to the forest, animal husbandry and the health department. Through this way it will be determined if the dead monkey is infected by the virus or not. All it will be convenient to dispose of the remains of the monkey in scientific method. It will also be easier to spread Malathion insecticide in a radius of 50 meters from the spot of the dead monkey and thereby kill the ticks, he explained.

Treatment for suspected patients

Of the suspected patients, Wenlock hospital, Father Muller’s Hospital and A J Hospital is treating a suspected patient each respectively. But it has not be confirmed to be monkey fever. In DK district, in 2004-05 there were 3, in 2005-06 there were 17, in 2007-07 there were 54 and in 2014-15 there was 1 cases of monkey fever identified. There was also a death due to disease in the years 2005-06, 2006-07 and 2014-15, informed the heath officer.