GROWING AWARENESS: Doctors examining a patient suffering from suspected Chikungunya. — File photo

CHENNAI: Even as the fear of Chikungunya spreads, the Health Department has said the epidemic is `on the decline'.

"Chikungunya is definitely on the decline in Tamil Nadu," Health Secretary V.K. Subburaj said. A month ago, about 1000-5000 cases were reported from the `epidemic districts' of Vellore, Tirupattur and Namakkal. The cases now dropped to 300-400, say public health officials. They attribute this to the intensive anti-mosquito, anti-larval drive that was taken up on a war-footing since the first few cases were reported. The deployment of rapid response teams in every block too brought down the number of cases, Health Department officials said.

They said the outbreaks were local and localised, with only a smattering of suspected cases being reported from the other parts of the State. So far, a total of 42,000 cases of Chikungunya had been confirmed in Tamil Nadu, of which 1000 were in Chennai.

However, with the awareness among the people growing, even common viral fevers are being reported as `Chikungunya.' While most of the diagnosis is made on the basis of clinical symptoms, the DPH sends select blood samples from an area where an outbreak is suspected to have occurred to the National Institute of Virology, Pune. "Even if one sample in the area has tested positive, it is assumed that the outbreak has occurred," a public health official said.

In the private sector, doctors do not send blood samples for confirmation, and diagnosis is made only on the basis of clinical symptoms. "Therefore, a number of other fevers occurring along with body pain are wrongly diagnosed as `Chikungunya'," officials said.

The government protocol is to treat a patient with paracetamol and dichlorphenal sodium (for joint pains), while in the private sector it is being reported that some doctors even recommend antibiotics. According to specialists, antibiotics are unnecessary and will have no effect on someone suffering from `Chikungunya.'

It is also believed that elderly persons with pre-existing conditions such as diabetes or heart ailments die after a bout of `Chikungunya.' However, epidemiologists say it is "not possible" for the virus to cause death. It has been proved that the virus causes only encephalitis (brain fever) in rare cases, and this has not been observed in the case of `Chikungunya.' However, they recommend that senior citizens who come down with fever be treated with IV fluids, as is being done in government hospitals.

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