Alert sounded in Andaman against Chikungunya spread

Port Blair, Jun 16 (UNI) The Directorate of Health Services has appealed to the islanders of Andaman and Nicobar Island to take all possible preventive measures to cheak Chikungunya, a troubling viral disease.

After reports of Chikungunya spread in various states of India, health authorities of the remote islands sounded the alert.

In an official appeal released here from the Directorate of Health Department, officials advised all the islanders to keep themselves away from mosquitoes as Chikungunya, which is a debilitating disease, spread by the bite of the infected mosquitoes.

''Humans are thought to be the major source, or reservoir, of Chikungunya virus for mosquitoes. Therefore, mosquitoes usually transmit the disease by biting an infected person and then biting someone else,'' Dr N Sadasivan the Director of Andaman's Health Services said.

He further informed the islanders that the Aedes mosquitoes, that transmit Chikungunya, breeds in containers including discarded tyres, flowerpots, old oil drums, animal water troughs, water storage vessels, and plastic food containers around human dwellings.

Meanwhile, doctors along with medical team had been posted in all the ports (Air and Sea) to identify incoming passengers from Mainland India having symptoms of Chikungunya.

''It is not possible to send back passengers, who have symptoms of Chikungunya from the ports itself, so we have identified some places in Port Blair, where we can isolate them, just to stop spread of the viral disease,'' Dr Sadasivan told UNI in Port Blair.

Meanwhile, political parties had also started putting pressure on the local administration to take all possible steps to curb the entry and spread of Chikungunya in Andamans.

''We need to take preventive steps from now itself, S Parmeshwari the Rashtriya Janata Dal Women's Wing President told media today.

Meanwhile, the Health Department is also distributing free mosquito nets and mosquito repellant creams to the islanders and fogging wherever possible.

According to rough estimation, last year, more than 10,000 people had Chikungunya in these remote islands, virtually paralysing the manpower of government and private institutions.

UNI