VALPOI
The mysterious illness which claimed many lives in Palli village, a small hamlet of Sattari surrounded by the forests, which was later diagnosed as Kyasanur Forest Disease (KFD) or 'Monkey fever', has now trapped two more patients from Mauxi-Sattari.
According to the geographical region, Mauxi village lies at the other side of Palli village, which was effected by KFD last summer.
Sources informed that both the patients from Mauxi were referred to Goa Medical College Hospital from CHC Valpoi and they are in good health.
Two weeks back, Manipal Centre for Virus Research had started its virology centre at CHC Valpoi and the two patients from Mauxi were diagnosed at this centre. The centre have started its studies and they investigated KFD and other viruses too in Sattari.
Sources informed that Community Health Center (CHC) Valpoi has already started organising advocacy or awareness programmes in Mauxi village in the same manner as it was organised in affected Palli village a few months back.
It may be recalled that four Palli villagers were killed by unknown illness, but more deaths remained unrecorded according to the villagers.
This epidemic started in February 2015. In April, a team from Manipal Virology Department, Manipal University, headed by Virologist Dr G Arun Kumar visited the village to investigate the matter. Later, he reported it as a Kyasanur Forest Disease (KFD), commonly known as Monkey fever, after testing ticks and human serum.
