In a shocking development, the health authorities had detected nearly 150 cases of chickungunya in Narmada district of Gujarat.
The epicenter of this deadly disease is considered to be the Kothara village of Nandod taluka. A large number of people in the village are struggling from boils, intermittent fever and pain in the limbs.

Confirming the development, Pradeep Prajapati (Joint Director of Malaria programme in Gujarat) said: “The chikungunya virus is endemic in the state and sporadic cases have been reported from some places.”
In a bid to control the spread of chikungunya, nearly sixteen medical teams, including doctors from municipality and the department of health and family welfare have been sent to the village.

These teams are performing exhaustive operations in the area to restrain the mosquito population.
As a preventative measure, the blood samples of five individuals for further tests have already been sent to the B J Medical College in Ahmedabad by the authorities. Apart from this, the district administration had also set up control rooms in some of the remote villages of this tribal district to supply instant medical help.

The first case of chickungunya was reported on March 6.
Speaking on this, Dr Appu Rao (Narmada Chief District Health Officer) said: “The health officials first came to know about the case on March 6. Then the cases were taken to the Primary Health Centre (PHC) at Jesalpur.

There could be two reasons for the spread of the disease: one due to the extensive breeding of the Aedis Egypti mosquitoes in the utensils used to feed livestock. Secondly, the virus could have spread from the neighbouring villages.”
It can be recalled that chickungunya is an insect-borne virus, of the genus, Alphavirus, that is transmitted to humans by virus-carrying Aedes mosquitoes. It is marked by high fever, rashes and joint pains.