Anbumani Ramadoss confirms Chikungunya in Cherthala

Cherthala, Kerala, Oct 6 (UNI) Union Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss today confirmed that the disease outbreak in Cherthala taluk was Chikungunya and said the Central government would give all assistance to the Kerala government to tackle the problem.

Dr Ramadoss, accompanied by the MPs K S Manoj and C S Sujatha and the state Health Minister P K Sreemathy, arrived at Thuravoor community health centre in Cherthala at 0900 hrs. He went around and interacted with patients for about half an hour.

Later, talking to reporters at Thuravoor, Dr Ramadoss said the problem in Cherthala taluk was Chikungunya. Nearly 800 to 900 people had been affected by fever and of these, 60 samples had tested positive for Chikungunya, a mosquito-borne viral disease.

There had been some confusion on whether the fever, which claimed over 80 lives in the taluk in the past few weeks, was Chikungunya.

As the fever did not lead to fatalities in the other Southern states, which were also hit by an outbreak.

Asked about availability of facilities in Cherthala to deal with the crisis, Dr Ramadoss said no local hospital was equipped to deal with the outbreak of the disease at such a large-scale. The Centre would give all possible help to the State to deal with the situation.

Dr Ramadoss later visited Cherthala taluk hospital, where over 500 patients were admitted with symptoms of Chikungunya.

Meanwhile, one more person, identified as Dillip, 22, of Kanjikuzhy panchayat, died in the taluk hospital this morning.

A nine-member Central team visiting Cherthala, including officials of the World Health Organisation, also confirmed that the disease was Chikungunya. The team has been in Cherthala for the past two days.

State Health Department Additional Director, Dr N Raghavan speaking on behalf of the team said there was high density of Aedes mosquito in Cherthala. While the normal index at other places was ten, but at Cherthala it was 25 to 30. He warned that the area could be hit by a dengue outbreak too, the team stressed the need for an immediate mosquito-eradication drive.

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