New Delhi: Chikungunya in city

Kounteya Sinha
[ 6 Sep, 2006 0124hrs IST TIMES NEWS NETWORK ]

NEW DELHI: Chikungunya, a viral disease with no known treatment, has come to the Capital. Three of the six blood samples collected by National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD) have tested positive for the deadly disease.

NICD officials said all three patients, in the age group of 27 to 30 years, had visited Andhra Pradesh, one of the states hit hard by Chikungunya, in the past month.

Characterised by high fever lasting between seven and 10 days, painful joints, headache, vomiting, fatigue and nausea, the disease has not been seen in Delhi before.

Spread by Aedes aegypti mosquito, the disease, which is generally not fatal, has affected 11 lakh people across India with states like Karnataka, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh being badly hit.

NICD is presently testing 30 blood samples of patients who have shown symptoms of the disease. Experts fear the virus could be in the incubation period in the Capital, with many more cases springing up in the next few weeks.

A senior NICD official said, "We had received blood samples of six patients from three city hospitals, of which three have tested positive.

Their clinical picture, along with antibody titre count of above 160 confirmed our worst suspicions." According to health minister A Ramadoss, prevention against the disease is its only cure.

Speaking to TOI, he said the ministry has sent guidelines to various states on how to control an outbreak. This debilitating illness has been affecting people for the past six months.

There are no vaccines and it has to be tackled with paracetamol and fluids. As it is caused by a day-biting mosquito, mosquito nets are also no precaution.

People therefore have to be more alert. They should not let water accumulate in their flower pots, coolers or AC chambers, which are ideal breeding grounds for the dangerous mosquitoes.