Unknown fever grips WB, virus not identified

Kolkata, Nov 13: An unknown virus showing identical symptoms of dengue and chikungunya has affected a large number of people in the city, leavig virologists flummoxed. Blood samples examined so far have failed to identify the virus at the National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune.

A team from the NIV recently visited the city areas, where the disease with the symptom of high fever was reported in the last few days, and took some blood samples to NIV.

"No conclusive evidence has been found in the blood tests about the nature of the virus even as the patients have been showing identical symptoms of either dengue or chikungunya," according to sources in the School of Tropical Medicine here.

Though it has been widely believed in the medical circle that the high fever and related complications like acute joint pain are related to vector-borne, it has not been proved by the Institute of cholera and enteric diseases (NICED). Sources said there was a proposal with the NIV to send the blood samples to the World Health Organisation's (WHO) reference laboratory for final diagnosis.

PTI