The Health Department is preparing to launch a vaccination drive in Wayanad district to keep Kyasanur Forest Disease (KFD) or monkey fever at bay.
The Wayanad district administration has directed the Health Department to step up surveillance measures in the wake of a recent outbreak of the disease in Shivamogga district in Karnataka, which claimed six lives there.
“There is no need for panic as the disease has not been reported from Wayanad district in the last two years,” District Medical Officer R. Renuka told The Hindu . The drive was only a precautionary step to tackle the outbreak of the disease, she said.
“We have stocked 350 doses of vaccine from Shivamogga for the purpose,” said Dr. Renuka, adding that the first phase of the drive would begin on Monday. The Forest personnel working in Cheeyambam and Muthanga forest areas would be vaccinated in the first phase.
Health Department staff and people who are in frequent contact with the forest, including tribespeople, would be administered the vaccine later, she said. Booster dose would be sufficient for tribespeople and the public as they had been already vaccinated, added Dr. Renuka.
The first outbreak of the disease was reported in the district in 2013 with one case. The virus wreaked havoc in the district in 2015 when 102 cases were reported and 11 persons died of the disease. Nine cases were reported in 2016. Though two suspected cases were reported in 2017, not a single case was reported last year, she said.
Since the viral disease is transmitted to humans through a species of ticks found on monkeys, the Forest Department personnel have been asked to collect details of unnatural deaths of monkeys in those areas where the outbreak of the disease was reported earlier.
Those living on the fringes of forest areas, especially where the outbreak of the disease was reported earlier, have been asked to use personal protection measures including gloves and gumboots as well as to apply repellent lotions before they enter the forest.
