Fever cases in India is Chikungunya, not bird flu: Ramadoss

New Delhi, July 26 (UNI) Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss today assured the Lok Sabha that the Centre would extend all assistance to the states affected by Chikungunya fever, which was being mistaken for dengue and bird flu.

Chikungunya fever, which had resurfaced in the country for the first time since 1963, was treatable with simple pain relieving drugs like paracetamol, plenty of fluids and normal diet and there was no need for taking any anti-biotics which were expensive, the Minister said while replying to a calling attention motion.

Supportive therapy would help in alleviating the symptoms. This included administration of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and getting plenty of rest.

Infected person should be isolated from day-biting mosquitoes as much as possible in order to avoid transmission of infection to other people, he said.

The chikungunya fever causing mosquitoes, which breed in clean water, could be eliminated through strong vector control measures.

This could be done by emptying and drying water containers once in a week, straining of stored water, treatment of water bodies with temephos or through biological control methods such as introduction of lavivorous fish. Pyrethrum extracts (0.1 per cent) can also be sprayed inside rooms to kill adult mosquitoes.

The Health Ministry had deputed its teams to the affected states -- Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Kerala -- and supplied adequate quantities of the chemical required for controlling the spread of mosquitoes, he said.

A total of 121 districts in these seven state had been affected with a total of 9,74,541 suspected cases.

Since the disease was clinically similar to dengue, laboratory conformation was important. A total of 10,611 samples had been sent from the affected states to laboratories at NIV, Pune and NICD, Delhi, of which 992 had been confirmed positive.

''No deaths due to Chikungunya fever have been reported from the affected states,'' he said.

Mr Yerran Naidu (TDP), who had moved the motion, however, maintained that the Andhra Pradesh Health Minister had confirmed two deaths. To this, Mr Ramadoss said the central team would verify this.

Mr Shailendra Kumar (SP), Dr M Jagannath (TDP) and Ms Tejashwini See Ramesh (Cong) also expressed concern over the break-out.

Sharing their anguish, the Minister said chikungunya was a debilitating non-fatal viral illness which was spread by the biteof female aedes mosquitoes, primarily aedes aegypti. The mosquitoes usually transmitted the disease by biting infected persons and then biting others.

The infected person cannot spread the infection directly to other person and as such it was not contagious. The disease was mostly present in urban and peri-urban areas. The mosquitoes breed in a wide variety of man-made containers -- discarded tyres, flower pots, old water drums, family water trough, water storage vessels and plastic food containers.

States had been asked to create awareness through the media and other means, the Minister said.

UNI SN MSJ HT1327