PANAJI/VALPOI: Goa on Monday witnessed the first death related to Kyasanur Forest Disease (KFD) or monkey fever this year, as the dreaded disease claimed the life of 45-year-old Gulabi Gawas, a resident of Keri in Sattari taluka.
“A middle-aged female was referred by the Sankhali Primary Health Centre on Friday to the Goa Medical College (GMC) after she was diagnosed with KFD with bilateral pneumonia. The patient was kept in Intensive Care Unit (ICU) as her condition kept deteriorating. She expired on Monday morning as she went into shock with acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS),” said state epidemiologist Dr Utkarsh Betodkar.
He said that a total of 422 samples of people were tested for KFD and 75 of them were found to be positive. Dr Betodkar said that new cases are constantly emerging from the affected areas of Valpoi, Kasarvanem, Ponda and Savoi Verem.
He said that despite the KFD disease raising its ugly head in the state, over 5,000 people have failed to turn up to get themselves vaccinated with the second dose of vaccine against the disease. He urged the people from affected areas not to overlook any case of fever and requested them to report to the nearest health centre. He also urged them to cooperate with the health officials in fighting against this disease.
According to information available from Keri village, Gawas was a native of Virdi in Maharashtra. She was admitted at the Sankhali Primary Health Centre last week, as she was suffering from fever. Later, her blood platelet count started dropping, worsening her condition. On Friday, she was referred to the GMC. However, she did not respond to the treatment and breathed her last on Monday morning.
With the death of Gawas, the death toll on record in the state due to this tick-borne viral infection has reached to four.