53 fall sick as undiagnosed fever afflicts Valparai tribals

Coimbatore: As many as 53 residents of Keelpoonachi, a tribal settlement in Valparai here, are suffering from fever.

A three-year-old girl was the first one to be afflicted by fever 15 days ago, said Kaliyammal, a resident, who is also suffering from fever. “Apart from high temperature, her hands and face swelled at times.

Despite taking the medicines prescribed by doctors at the government hospital in Valparai, the girl still has high temperature. Her family members also fell sick, then their neighbours and now, half of the settlement is suffering from the fever. Unlike the girl, the rest of them have only high temperature and diarrhoea.”

Among the affected is a teacher, who had been travelling to the settlement from Pollachi. “The villagers had been visiting the government hospitals in Kattur and Valparai for treatment but the doctors had not even taken blood samples to diagnose the fever,” Kaliyammal said.

Meanwhile, president of the Tamil Nadu Tribal People’s Association VS Paramisavam said that a mobile medical team, which is supposed to visit the settlement once a month, had not visited the place in three months. “A medical team from Coimbatore conducted a camp in the settlement on Thursday after we escalated the issue. They have taken blood samples of the fever victims,” he said.

An official from the health department said that the residents are suffering from viral fever. “Only 25 people from the settlement attended the medical camp. Four of them were diagnosed with high temperature and respiratory tract infection. The blood test results confirmed that it is viral fever.”

The department had been advising the villagers not to consume water from the nearby stream without boiling it, the official added.