By IANS,
Panaji : As many as 143 people are suffering from chikunguya in Goa with more than one person testing positive for the disease every day in the last one month, officials said Friday.
“Out of the 347 suspected cases, we have 143 confirmed instances of chikungunya in Goa,” Deepak Kabadi, deputy director of the state health services, told IANS.
The outbreak had first started amongst the mining workers in the rural mining belt of Quepem-Sanguem located in southeast Goa some months back.
Kabadi said that the Quepem sub district alone had seen 61 cases in a short span of time.
“We are taking every possible precaution to ensure that chikungunya does not spread further. Special teams have been dispatched to the area to monitor and take proactive action,” Kabadi said.
Health department officials said the state directorate of health services had already dispatched additional staff to the chikungunya affected areas and other precautionary measures were being taken.
Chikungunya is a virus that is transmitted to humans by the virus-carrying Aedes mosquito.