Officials run second test to confirm monkey fever in patient

Health officials are in a state of “watchful expectancy” for cases of monkey fever in the district and said there will be clarity on whether the patient from Belavai has monkey fever in a week.

While tests have shown that the patient has monkey fever, the officials on Monday said that a second test would be done to reconfirm the result.

“It (the first report) could be a false positive. We will be sending for a second test,” said H.S. Shivakumar, District Health Officer (DHO), Dakshina Kannada. B.V. Rajesh, District Surveillance Officer, said, “Epidemiologically, it is not suggestive. But Elisa is positive.”

They were speaking at a press conference here on Monday.

Test on ticks

The test done on the ticks collected from the forest area where the patient stayed turned out negative. Dr. Shivakumar said, “Luckily, it was negative. They were safe.”

He said a dead monkey was found on Thursday in Hosangady, Venur, and the ticks from near it were taken for testing on Saturday. Whether the ticks were carriers of the monkey fever virus would be known in 10 days, he said.

Dr. Rajesh said that the last human positive case in Dakshina Kannada district was in 2006 when there were 54 cases of monkey fever and one death.

The last time a tick was found to be a carrier of the monkey fever virus in the district was in 2012. Four samples of ticks (each sample has 20 to 25 ticks) tested positive. Of them, two samples were from Shiradi in Puttur and one from Mundaje in Belthangady.

ID cards

In response to a query on uneven distribution of identity cards to victims of endosulfan usage in the district, Arun Kumar, Endosulfan Victims Rehabilitation Nodal Officer, said there “could be delays in the channels” because beneficiaries keep moving from one place to place.

He said those who wanted the identity cards may contact the medical officers of their taluks.