E-Paper
Chickungunya cases confirmed
THE LONG awaited test reports from the National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD), New Delhi yesterday has confirmed Chikungunya cases in the City.
THE LONG awaited test reports from the National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD), New Delhi yesterday has confirmed Chikungunya cases in the City.
Mahatma Gandhi Medical College (MGM) acting Dean Dr Premlata Parikh confirmed to Hindustan Times that six out of 10 samples tested by NICD have tested positive. The college’s Microbiology department had sent a total of 25 samples.
A college team had collected the samples from the Asharfi Nagar area in Khajrana following outbreak of a mysterious ailment afflicting several people in that locality was reported.
The samples had been sent for testing to NICD on July 24. However, the results took an exceptionally long time in arriving, as NICD, which along with another testing centre National Institute of Virology in Pune alone have the facility for running such tests in the country, was flooded with a number of requests for tests with similar outbreaks reported from several parts of the country.
The disease itself has gripped the State spreading from Chhindwara to Burhanpur. Several areas in Indore division have been already declared as Chikungunya affected and similar though unconfirmed cases have been reported from several localities in and around the City.
She, however, said the disease was prevalent then and its presence at this point of time was not confirmed. As the tests had taken a very long time for confirmation the particular strain of the virus could have petered out reducing the possibility of affliction from the disease. Furthermore, the cases coming in nowadays do not show the peculiar characteristic symptom of rashes and can easily be viral fever, malaria, hepatitis or bronchitis.
The viral epidemic has common symptoms like severe joint pain, fever and chill, however in case of doubt NICD officials have advised the health authorities to give simultaneous treatment to patients both for leptospirosis and Chikungunya.
With report finally arriving the dilemma plaguing the residents of the City and the war between government/private doctors and health authorities has given way to the truth making the health authorities chew their words.
The illness diagnosed by several doctors as Chikungunya and repeatedly disclaimed by the government health authorities had left the public in the lurch as to the nature of the disease. However, with opinion clearly divided, the medical fraternity had challenged the question mark put over their diagnosis by the health department and started prescribing treatment for the disease though it had been vehemently denied time and again by Chief Medical Health Officer (CMHO) Dr KK Vijayvergiya.
The constant rise in cases of victims falling prey to this disease is reflected in the rise of number of patients admitted in all City hospitals both government or private. Yet even after confirmation the authorities are hesitant to accept any more cases than confirmed in test reports.
Sources have it that the government guideline puts all medical cases under the suspected/probable/confirmed category and it is expected that medical treatment be started immediately with preventive and control measures without waiting path tests. However, what took the health authorities from reacting to the outbreak and adhering to these guidelines is a mystery.
