ProMedMail reports based on the Thaindian News, that 6 cases of chikungunya have been confirmed in Vatakara and 9 cases confirmed in Maruthonkara, both in Kozhikode district, in the northern part of Kerala state, India. The outbreak was reported Tuesday (04/08/2008), following heavy and untimely rains. The index case appear to be a person who travelled from Tamil Nadu [Is there an outbreak as well in Tamil Nadu? No report on that available.] A high density of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes was noted at the location of the outbreak, and a campaing to reduce the mosquito density has been initiated. According to the report, Kozhikode district, specifically the town of Kodenchery reported a large number of cases last year.
According to another report in the same journal, Poonam Khetrapal Singh, the deputy regional director of WHO SEARO (South-East Asian Region), the chikungunya outbreaks in Kerala in the last two years is directly attributable to climate change. The report claims that 100 fatalities and more than 100,000 [or rather 1,000,000] chikungunya cases occured in Kerala state. Kerala State put together an action plan to control disease, with each district allocated 500,000 Rs for prevention.
These news are very disconcerting as last year the first cases in Kerala have been reported more than a month later than this year. Unless vector control campaigns are much more successful than previously, another huge outbreak of chikungunya in the region is expected this year. This will also enable the importation of chikungunya to Europe and the US, where transmission by local Aedes albopictus is a real possibility.
Click here to see the location of these outbreaks.
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