• Karnataka is currently reeling under an outbreak of monkey fever or Kyasanur forest disease (KFD). 

About the Disease:

• Kyasanur Forest Disease (KFD) is a re-emerging zoonotic disease associated with sudden onset of high grade fever, prostration, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and occasionally neurological & haemorrhagic manifestations.
• The KFD virus is a member of the genus flavivirus and family Flaviviridae. It is transmitted to man by bite of infected ticks. 
• This disease was first discovered in 1957 from Kyasanur forest area, Shimoga district of Karnataka state in southern India. 
• It derives its name from the forest range where the virus was first isolated. It is also known as “monkey disease/monkey fever” because of its association with monkey deaths.

Symptoms:

• After an incubation period of 3-8 days, the symptoms of KFD begin suddenly with chills, fever, and headache. Severe muscle pain with vomiting, gastrointestinal symptoms and bleeding problems may occur 3-4 days after initial symptom onset. Patients may experience abnormally low blood pressure, and low platelet, red blood cell, and white blood cell counts.
• After 1-2 weeks of symptoms, some patients recover without complication. However, the illness is biphasic for a subset of patients (10-20 %) who experience a second wave of symptoms at the beginning of the third week. These symptoms include fever and signs of neurological manifestations, such as severe headache, mental disturbances, tremors, and vision deficits.

Global Situation:

• The KFD virus was initially suspected as a Russian spring–summer (RSS) complex of viruses. As of now, KFD is only reported from India. The other viruses which are closely related to KFD are Omsk hemorrhagic fever virus in Siberia, Alkhurma virus in Saudi Arabia and Nanjianyin virus in China

Indian Scenario:

• The disease was first reported in 1957 from Shimoga district, Karnataka, which is a primitive sylvan territory in Western Ghats of India, subsequently spread centripetally to other districts of Karnataka viz., Chikkamagalore, Uttara Kannada, Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts and to Chamarajanagar district in 2012 and most recently to Belagavi district in 2016. In 2013, KFDV was detected in autopsy material of dead monkeys in Nilgiris district of Tamil Nadu state. Monkey deaths and human cases have now been reported from three neighbouring states bordering Karnataka viz., Wayanad (2013) and Malappuram districts of Kerala (2014), North Goa district of Goa state (2015) and Sindhudurg district of Maharashtra (2016).