Kerala says no alarming viral cases; only exaggeration

Thiruvananthapuram, June 15 (UNI) Even as Kerala is on a high alert over the spread of viral fever, including chikungunya and dengue, the State Government, defending its strenuous steps to contain the epidemic and rejecting reports of ''exaggerated'' figures of viral cases and deaths, stressed that this year's number of viral infections is far less compared to the previous years.

As of yesterday, viral cases, including chikungunya and dengue, stood at 8,74,192, while 18,12,378 cases were reported last year (January to December), sources in the Health Ministry told UNI.

Even if the present number of cases doubled in the next six months, the figures would not come anywhere near the previous years' number. However, the peak season of the viral fever was over, the sources added.

When compared to the past five years, the number of cases this year had been the lowest, they said adding that it was 18,02,277 cases in 2005, 1,11,379 in 2004 and 18,55,540 in 2003.

With regard to chikungunya, the statistics showed that it was not that alarming when compared to last year, when it was first detected in the State. Last year, there were 70,731 suspected chikungunya cases, of which 35 were confirmed. ''But it should be noted that 35 cases were confirmed out of the 65 samples sent for test, which means more than half of them were confirmed to be affected by chikungunya. In other cases, proper samples were not analysed as the virology centre in the State was not well equipped and these samples had to be sent to Delhi or other places,'' they said.

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