EMCH sans facility to detect rat fever

Kochi: Even as the suspected leptospirosis (rat fever) cases shot up to 53 at Ernakulam Government Medical College Hospital (EMCH), the hospital is running without the facility to detect the disease and every day samples are being taken to Alappuzha Government Medical College for confirmation.

The number of confirmed leptospirosis cases stood at 13 at the EMCH on Thursday. The hospital does not have polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test which is used to confirm the disease. EMCH medical superintendent Dr Peter Vazhayil said that the hospital does have IGM Elisa test which is also used to determine leptospirosis but the same is not accurate in early detection.

“We are advising people to take treatment for rat fever if there is any suspicion without waiting for confirmation,” said Dr Peter Vazhayil. Meanwhile an official at the district control room of the District Medical Office said that they are putting out figures of leptospirosis cases in the district based on the results of IGM Elisa test. “In fact the suspected cases are more or less confirmed cases,” the official said. The official number of suspected cases in the district stood at 299 while the confirmed cases were 29.

Doctors working in private hospitals in Kochi said that the DMO office is not taking count of patients in private hospitals in the district as they put out the figures for the district. “Several young people, mostly volunteers who were engaged in rescue have been afflicted with the disease and have sought treatment which is of serious concern,” said Dr N.K. Sanil Kumar, surgeon and leader of the Justice V.R. Krishna Iyer Movement. He also said that the sensitivity, specificity, accuracy and early detection of the disease are missing in Ernakulam in the absence of PCR test.