Monkey fever: Forest men recovering

There is an improvement in the health condition of five forest personnel who have been admitted at the town hospital here for suspected monkey fever.

Chikkarangaiah, a forest department staffer is undergoing treatment, while others Srinivasa, Rajappa, Pradeep and  hospital have been discharged.
 
Another person Ninga who was being treated at Vivekananda hospital near Begur is also recovering, said assistant conservator of Forest Shivashankarswamy.

The forest department as a precautionary measure has distributed DMP, a disease control, repellant medicine to the daily wage labourers working in the Maddur region’s Alegowdanakatte anti-poaching camp and surrounding area where the monkey fever is spreading.

As there are not many villages in the border areas the chances of the disease spreading is less. Hence there is no need for the villagers and the tribals living in the haadis to be scared of the disease attacking them. In order to find out the virus which spreads the disease, samples have been collected and send to the National Virology Institute, Pune. The report will come either on Friday or Saturday.

Once the report comes it will be decided whether the patients are suffering from monkey fever virus and then the process of vaccinating the people will begin, said Shivashankarswamy.

The disease also called the Kyasanur forest disease is a viral disease, which was first reported din Kyasanur forest in Shimoga district in 1957.