62 chikungunya cases in state

A total of 62 chikungunya cases have been confirmed in the state as efforts to contain the disease by destroying mosquito breeding sources in the affected districts were on, Health Secretary Vishwas Mehta said.

Addressing a press conference here along with B C Jain, Central team Technical Head and Additional Director of Non-Communicable Diseases, Mehta said the government was hopeful that with active community participation, it would be able to cut short the lifecycle of mosquitoes and check the spread of the disease in the next one week.

He said 49 chikungunya cases were reported in Pathanamthitta district.There were no cases of dengue fever in the state.A total of 142 health workers have been deputed to step up anti-prevention measures.

Jain said the central team had visited most of the affected districts and collected blood samples of the patients with fever. "Clinical examination has confirmed that there are cases of Chikungunya," Jain said adding it has to be collaborated with laboratory tests.

Jain also said there was no evidence to show that chikungunya could cause a person's death.The only effective method to check the spread of the disease was to destroy the mosquito breeding centres in and around houses. Jain sought the co-operation of people in this regard. The team also visited some affected areas of Idukki, Kottayam, Palakkad, Thrissur, Alappuzha and Kollam.

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