Kyasanur Forest Disease

• 22 May 2021

Why in News

A new point-of-care test has been found to be highly sensitive in the rapid diagnosis of Kyasanur Forest Disease (KFD).

• This disease is also known as monkey fever.

Key Points

• Point-of-care Test:
  
  • About:
    
    • It is developed by Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR)-National Institute of Virology.
    • It includes a battery-operated Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) analyser, which is a portable, lightweight and universal cartridge-based sample pre-treatment kit and nucleic acid extraction device that aid in sample processing at the point of care.
  • Benefits:
    
    • It would be beneficial for the diagnosis of KFD as the outbreaks mainly happen in remote areas, where there is lack of well-equipped sample handling and laboratory testing facilities.
    • It would be useful in quick patient management and controlling further spread of the virus.
• Kyasanur Forest Disease:
  
  • About:
    
    • It is caused by Kyasanur Forest disease Virus (KFDV), which primarily affects humans and monkeys.
    • It was first identified in 1957 in a sick monkey from the Kyasanur Forest in Karnataka. Since then, between 400-500 human cases per year have been reported.
    • Eventually, KFD emerged as a grave public health problem spreading through the entire Western Ghats.
  • Transmission:
    
    • In nature, the virus is maintained mainly in hard ticks (Haemaphysalis spinigera), monkeys, rodents and birds.
    • To humans, it may occur after a tick bite or contact with an infected animal (a sick or recently dead monkey).
  • Symptoms:
    
    • Characterised by chills, frontal headache, body ache, and high fever for five to 12 days with a case fatality rate of 3 to 5%.
  • Diagnosis:
    
    • Diagnosis can be made in the early stage of illness by molecular detection by PCR or virus isolation from blood.
    • Later, serologic testing using Enzyme-linked Immunosorbent Serologic Assay (ELISA) can be performed.
  • Treatment and Prevention:
    
    • There is no specific treatment for monkey fever.
    • A vaccine (Formalin inactivated KFDV vaccine) does exist for KFD and is used in endemic areas of India.
      
      • However, it is found that vaccines are not effective once the person is infected with fever.

Source: IE