Kyasanur Forest Disease

What is KFD?

• Kyasanur forest disease (KFD) is a febrile disease

• Caused by an arbovirus flavivirus
• Transmitted to man by bite of infective ticks

HISTORY
 Was first recognized in 1957 in Shimoga district
 Also called as "monkey disease“
 Later named – Kyasanur Forest Disease
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Problem Statement
• Earlier the disease was found to be limited mainly - (Shimoga
district)
• It is now restricted to four districts (Shimoga, North and South
Karnataka and Chikamagalur)
• Continues to be active in its endemic foci. about 400-500 cases
occur every year
• The Karnataka Government has established a surveillance system
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Epidemiological determinants
1. Agent- KFD virus is a member of group B togaviruses (flaviviruses)
• Unlike in many other arbovirus infections, KFD has a prolonged
viraemia in man for about 10 days or more

2. Natural hosts and reservoirs

Small mammals particularly rats and squirrels are the main reservoirs
of the virus
• The monkeys are recognized as amplifying hosts for the virus
• Cattle provide Haemaphysalis ticks with a plentiful source of blood
meals
• Man is an incidental or dead-end host, and plays no part in virus
transmission
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3. Vectors- The virus has a complex life cycle involving a wide variety
of tick-species
• At least 15 species of hard ticks of the genus Haemaphysalis,
particularly H. spinigera and H. turtura are known to transmit the
disease

4. Host factors
(i) Age: Majority of cases affected were between 20 and 40 years
(ii) Sex: Attack rate is greater in males than females
(iii) Occupation; cultivators who visited forests accompanying their
cattle and for cutting woods
(iv) Human activity: The epidemic period correlates well with the
period of greatest human activity in the forest, i.e., from January until
the onset of rains in June
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5. Mode of transmission- The transmission cycle involves mainly

monkeys and ticks
• The disease is transmitted by the bite of infective ticks especially
nymphal stages
• There is no evidence of man to man transmission

6. Incubation period- Estimated to be between 3 - 8 days

7. Clinical Features- fever headache and severe myalgia

• Haemorrhages from nose, gums, stomach and intestine may occur
in severe cases
• Second phase characterized by mild meningoencephalitis
• Case fatality rate has been estimated to be 5 to 10 per cent

Diagnosis is established only after detecting the presence an of the

virus in the blood and/or serological evidence
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Control

Control of ticks
Vaccination
Personal protection

Surveillance
Animal surveillance
Entomological Surveillance
Human surveillance
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Kyasanur Forest Disease, is our surveillance system healthy to

prevent a larger outbreak? A mixed-method study, Shivamogga,
Karnataka, India: 2019
Surveillance system evaluation

• 2 of 3 medical officers and 4 of 6 health staff at the institutions

visited were found to be untrained in KFD surveillance. The visited
PHIs did not use integrated surveillance forms to report KFD
• Each reporting unit used various non-standardized reporting formats
• The PHCs did not keep line lists of suspects/specimens tested. The
average time to KFDV results varied across laboratories, from 2 to
16 days

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijid.2021.07.076
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