Monkey fever is back in Karnataka

With the death of Rangamma, a 55-year-old resident of Aralagodu village, the Kyasanur Forest Disease (KFD) has taken the lives of five persons so far this year—all from the same village. KFD is an endemic tick-borne disease that recurs annually in the forests of the Western Ghats in Karnataka.  The epicentre of the disease this time around  is in Aralagodu village in the forests of Sagar taluk in Shivamogga district and there have been 18 positive cases identified this season. The disease was first discovered in 1957 and recurs annually without fail taking a few lives every year.

KFD is also popularly known as ‘Monkey Fever’ as the tick-borne carriers of the virus affect monkeys in an area first leading to their deaths. Humans living in the vicinity or passing by on forest trails become easy victims of the ticks that fall off the dead monkeys. There is no treatment for the disease which has a casualty rate of between 10 and 20 per cent and the victims can only be treated symptomatically for the high fever and severe body ache that accompanies the onset of the disease. Thus, villagers living in and around the forests are advised to be cautious and apply tick repellents generously before they head into the forests.

The backwaters of the Sharavati river in Shivamogga district, a popular tourist spot, is now off limits for visitors as the Karnataka Forest Department has issued an advisory preventing the entry of trekkers and sightseers to the area. While similar precautions have been taken in the past as well, this has not stopped KFD from taking its share of victims annually. Epidemiologists who have been involved in studying the disease over the past six decades have failed to find a permanent solution to this grim annual occurrence.