SHIVAMOGGA: The District Health and Family Welfare Department is now in a fix over the reason for one Parshwanath’s death. The blood samples of the man hailing from Sagar taluk tested negative for Kyasanur Forest Disease (also known as monkey fever) in the National Institute of Virology (NIV) in Bengaluru, but tested positive at Kasturba Hospital in Manipal where he died. Now, both the laboratories have been asked to rerun the blood samples.
After Parshwanath died on Friday morning, the hospital issued a statement saying Parshwanath was a KFD positive patient. The hospital has been treating KFD patients in a separate ward. District Health and Family Welfare officer Rajesh Suragihalli told Express that tests on samples of blood from the patient separately in Manipal and Shivamogga have given different results.
When Parshwanath was admitted to the hospital in Sagar on February 22, he was diagnosed with nausea and diarrhea. “He developed fever the next day. Since he hailed from a KFD-affected area, doctors at Sagar referred him to Kasturba Hospital in Manipal. Prior to this, the hospital had extracted blood samples of the patient and sent them to us. We tested them in Shivamogga and Bengaluru but the samples tested negative for KFD,” he said.
The official said Parshwanath was normal for five days but went on to develop severe complications. “His organs failed one by one and he went into septic shock, and then died. Kasturba Hospital said his blood samples tested positive for KFD. Since NIV is run by the government, its reports are more authentic. However, we are accepting the report of Kasturba Hospital (too) to take precautionary measures,” he said.
Suragihalli said since the blood test of the KFD is sensitive, instructions have been given to cross-verify the samples.
“We will rerun the samples we have, and also ask Kasturba Hospital to rerun the samples,” he said.It is decided to present reports of deaths of KFD patients before a district audit committee, which comprises experts from government and private hospitals. “The committee will examine the reports and come to a conclusion over the total number of deaths due to the KFD in the district,” he added.