9 deaths due to monkey fever in Shivamogga district since Dec 2018
Shivamogga, Jan 25: A total of nine deaths due to Kyatsandra Forest Disease, also known as monkey fever, has been reported in Shivamogga district since it broke out there in December 2018, the Karnataka health department said Friday.
Releasing the data, the department said 100 positive cases had been identified in the district since December 24, 2018, of whom nine had died.
This apart, 120 monkeys too died of the disease, including eight on Friday in Shivamogga, it said.
A health officer said 20,362 people have been vaccinated till date, including 208 on Friday.
"We are carrying out field surveillance and have so far surveyed 374 villages, he said.
Shivamogga District Surveillance Officer Dr. B.S Shankarappa had Thursday allayed fears, saying early diagnosis was the key to control KFD, a tick-borne viral hemorrhagic fever endemic to South Asia, and that people with poor immunity level might be more susceptible to it.
Since the disease is caused by tick, the district authorities were distributing insect repellent. Besides, a vaccination drive was also underway, the DSO had said.
The virus spreads through parasitic ticks which latch on to monkeys and is transmitted to human through tick bites. It was first reported in the country from Kyasanur forests in Shivamogga district in 1957 and hence came to be known as KFD.
The KFD infection, which starts with high fever and body ache, results in hemorrhage, similar to that in dengue.
Meanwhile, the district health officer in Mysuru denied that two deaths reported in the district were of monkey fever. He said the deaths were reported from a village bordering Kerala and added that their investigation revealed that one of them had died of suspected brain haemorrhage and the other of pneumonia.
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Three company directors held in Rs 100-crore investment fraud in Kochi
Kochi (Kerala) (PTI): Police on Sunday arrested three directors of a firm accused of cheating hundreds of investors of over Rs 100 crore through a fake investment scheme linked to agricultural tourism here, officials said.
The accused were identified as Muraleedharan, Ashik Murali and Akhil Murali, all natives of Thrissur.
The arrests were made by the Kalamassery police in connection with a fraud involving ATCOS (Agri Tourism Cooperative Society), a firm headquartered at Pathadipalam here.
Police said the company had promised high returns by collecting investments from the public in the agricultural tourism sector, but allegedly cheated hundreds of people and fled with the money.
ATCOS was registered under the Multi-State Cooperative Societies Act and operated 13 branches across various districts in Kerala, besides a branch in Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu, officials said.
When investors failed to receive their promised returns or the invested amount, complaints were filed with the police.
Officials said around 54 cases have been registered against the firm in 32 police stations across the state, including 29 cases at the Kalamassery police station alone.
Following instructions from Kochi City Police Commissioner K S Mahesh Kumar, a special investigation team was formed under the supervision of Deputy Commissioner of Police (Law and Order) Shehensha and Thrikkakara ACP Manoj Kumar.
The team traced the accused to an apartment in Amala Nagar in Thrissur, where they had been hiding after secretly renting the flat, officials said.
The bank accounts of the accused have been frozen, and steps have been initiated to trace their assets, officials said.
Police also conducted a raid at the company’s office at Pathadipalam and seized several documents related to the case.
The accused were produced before the Judicial First Class Magistrate Court in Kalamassery, which remanded them to judicial custody and sent them to Kakkanad jail.
Police said they would seek the custody of the accused for further interrogation as the investigation continues.
