Villagers fear chickenpox outbreak

HUBBALLI: Panic grips Koujageri, a small village in Ron Taluk in Gadag district where a majority of residents were affected by chickenpox. Residents are scared after the death of a youth allegedly due to the viral infection.
Health and family welfare department officials started visiting the village after local media highlighted the intensity of the infection. Koujageri located 40km from Gadag, has a population of over 2,500.Residents say almost every household is affected by the viral infection. They add that one can find two or three chickenpox patients in each house in the village, most of them children.
Yallappa Surkod, a resident of Koujageri said around 200 people were affected by chickenpox in the last two months. The disease has spread more intensely in the last fortnight, he said.
Another villager Shankargouda Patil alleged that health officials neglected the possible outbreak of the infection and started making a beeline to the village only after the media highlighted the problem. He added that apart from taking medicines, the villagers were offering special prayers to the village deity and children are being wrapped in neem leaves.
Villagers believe that the outbreak is a result of the wrath of the village deity. They claim that they might have done some mistake and have to atone it by offering special pujas. They are also making children go for alms and collect jowar from neighbours. Those affected by chickenpox are fed delicacies made with the collected jowar after five days, said a villager.
District health Officer Dr Virupakshireddy Madinur has refuted the charges levelled by villagers. He said so far only 46 cases of suspected chickenpox were reported and their blood samples have been sent to a laboratory for tests. “The department has taken steps to prevent the infection from spreading. Doctors are treating the suspected patients and within a week or 10 days the infection will subside. The situation is not as alarming. Reports of villagers leaving Koujageri fearing the infection are false and no one has died due to this infection,” he added.