Kyasanur Forest Disease: A tick-borne viral illness is spreading in the Western Ghats

As temperatures rise in Karnataka’s Malenadu region, located along the Western Ghats, the residents remain on high alert due to the resurgence of a tick-borne illness endemic to India – Kyasanur Forest Disease (KFD). Locally known as monkey fever or mangana kayile in Kannada, this viral haemorrhagic disease, caused by a Flavivirus in the family of Flaviviridae, carries an estimated fatality rate of 3% to 15%. Dengue, in comparison, kills around 2.6% of the infected, according to an estimate.

The zoonotic disease follows a predictable annual cyclic pattern, emerging during the peak winter months of November and December, reaching its zenith in the summer, and then disappearing completely with the onset of monsoon, only to resurface with varying intensity the following year.

Since January this year, the region has already recorded 12 deaths, and more than 250 positive cases of KFD. The recent demise of a seven-year-old child in Uttara Kannada district due to KFD has heightened concerns.

Highlighting the gravity of the situation, KP Sripal, a Shivamogga-based advocate and a member of the KFD Janajagruthi Okkoota, a civil society group advocating for better accountability and government protection against the disease, notes that this tragic incident marks the first child fatality from the disease in over 30 years.

While we couldn’t verify the claim...

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