A 57-year-old woman, a native of Siddapura taluk in Uttara Kannada district of Karnataka, died of Kyasanur Forest Disease (KFD) at McGann Hospital in Shivamogga on the night of February 25.
She was admitted to the hospital on February 24. Since then, she had been under treatment in the intensive care unit. She breathed her last around 8.20 p.m., according to officials. This is the fourth death due to KFD in Karnataka since January 1 this year. Two persons from Uttara Kannada, and one each from Shivamogga and Chikkamagaluru have died due to the viral infection.
The woman from a village near Korlakai Primary Health Centre in Siddapura taluk developed symptoms on January 28. She was treated as an outpatient at a private hospital in Sagar on January 29. Later, during a door-to-door survey, the Health Department’s surveillance staff collected her blood samples. She tested positive for KFD infection on February 1.
She was admitted to the taluk Hospital in Siddapura the next day, and shifted to McGann Hospital in Shivamogga on February 3. As she did not show any improvement, she was taken to KMC Hospital at Manipal. The follow-up test of her blood on February 6 also showed KFD infection. She left the hospital at 3.30 p.m. on February 24, against the advice of doctors.
Officials of the Health Department convinced her and brought her to McGann Hospital in Shivamogga at 7.30 p.m. However, she did not survive.
KFD is a viral infection that spreads through tick-bites. Common symptoms of the disease are a high fever, redness in the eyes, and body pain. Primates that come in contact with infective ticks contract the disease. Human beings who visit the forest either for livelihood, to graze cattle, or to collect firewood contract the disease. Normally, the transmission begins from late November to June. It peaks between December and March, according to studies. A blood test is done to identify if someone has KFD.
