Kyasanur forest disease: a rare viral hemorrhagic disease in India

Abstract

Kyasanur forest disease (KFD) is a rare hemorrhagic disease in India and isolated in monkeys in the Kyasanur Forest of the Shimoga district, Karnataka State in India in 1957. KFD is a zoonotic disease and endemic in southern part of India. KFD Virus commonly infects the black faced langur monkey (Semnopithecus entellus). No evidence for human-to-human transmission. Large domestic animals (cows, goats, sheep) that become infected are thought be important only for sustaining tick population. When monkeys come in contact with the infected ticks, they get infected, amplify and disseminate the infection creating hot spots of infection. The people who pass through the forest are bitten by the infected nymphs of H. spinigera, which are highly anthropophilic. Local villagers staying in and around the forest area frequently visit the forest for collection of fire woods, grass  and get infected through tick bites. The incubation period is 3-8 days and patients presented with following symptoms like chills, frontal headache, bodyache, and high fever for 5-12 days. There were 466 human cases during initial outbreak and 181 more the following year and has caused epidemic outbreaks of haemorrhagic fever affecting 400 to 1000 people per year since then, with mortality rate of 4 and 15%.  In 2012, 9 persons were found positive for KFD, in Theerthahlli taluk of district Karnataka. There is no specific treatment for KFD but a timely supportive therapy reduces the mortality in human being.