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Kashmir – 4 Students Infected, Authorities Ignorant

March 23, 2008

4 Students Infected, Authorities Ignorant

MUDASIR ALI

Srinagar, Mar 22: A contagious disease, chickenpox, has broken out in the National Institute of Technology (NIT) here while the health authorities expressed ignorance about the infection.
Four outside students of the Institute have been infected by the chickenpox disease, a medico told Greater Kashmir on Saturday.
While three outside students (names withheld) have been kept in a separate ward of the Medical Unit in the Institute campus to prevent other students from catching the disease, a Kashmiri student was taken home by his family members. “Don’t enter the ward, there are students infected by chickenpox,” the medico told this reporter.
He said the students were provided medical treatment and might recover in a week or 10 days. “We can’t shift them to any hospital as they are to be kept alone to prevent the disease from spreading,” the medico said.
A doctor wishing anonymity said the disease broke out a week ago. “An outside student who returned from winter vacation was infected by the disease. The nature of the disease was confirmed by a doctor of the medical unit in the campus,” the doctor said.
He said since the disease is highly infectious and the authorities failed to provide proper treatment to the student, it spread to his three other colleagues.
He said a Kashmiri student was also infected but was shifted to home by parents for proper treatment. “The immediate requirement is to shift the infected students to hospital for proper treatment and prevent the disease from spreading in the campus,” he said.
A team of doctors also arrived from the Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Science (SKIMS) Soura to treat the students. The doctors suggested the authorities to keep the students in a separate ward.
According to the doctor, the medical unit of the campus lacks proper infrastructure for treating the disease. “The disease can take the shape of an epidemic and spread to other students and especially the children of many families residing in the campus if proper treatment isn’t given to the patients,” the doctor said.
Chickenpox is a highly contagious viral illness that is common in children and is caused by the varicella-zoster virus (VZV), also known as human herpes virus 3 (HHV-3), one of the eight herpes viruses known to affect humans. The infections is characterized by fever and itchy, red spots usually appearing on the chest and stomach first, then appearing in crops over the entire body.
When contacted, director health said they had no information about the spread of the disease. “There is a doctor in the campus of the institute. He should have informed us,” the director said.
Registrar of NIT, AR Bhat however said the students were infected by smallpox. “We are providing proper treatment to the students,” Bhat said.

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