Jaipur: The state govt has intensified health surveillance and vector-control measures in districts bordering Gujarat after Chandipura virus (CHPV) cases in the neighbouring state raised fears of transmission through infected sandflies.The health department is concentrating on vulnerable border districts, particularly Sirohi, Dungarpur and Udaipur, which lie close to Gujarat areas reporting infections.Rajasthan has so far recorded three deaths linked to the virus, one each from Sirohi, Udaipur and Dungarpur, prompting officials to move from routine monitoring to aggressive prevention.Health teams have sought urgent support from the animal husbandry department for anti-sandfly operations across rural belts.Officials said livestock shelters, cracked mud walls, damp crevices, stone structures, cattle sheds and animal burrows offer favourable resting and breeding spaces for sandflies, making coordinated village-level action essential.An official said, “Alpha-cypermethrin 10% SC is being used for targeted spraying. The broad-spectrum pyrethroid insecticide has residual action and works through contact and stomach poisoning. It is commonly deployed in public health vector management against mosquitoes, flies, cockroaches and sandflies.”Chandipura virus, a member of the Rhabdoviridae family, causes acute encephalitis syndrome and is transmitted mainly by infected phlebotomine sandflies. Children below 15 years are considered highly vulnerable. Doctors warn that the illness can worsen quickly, moving from high fever and headache to seizures, altered consciousness, coma and death if timely medical care is delayed.District health authorities have been told to identify suspected encephalitis clusters, expand door-to-door awareness, encourage immediate reporting of fever with neurological symptoms and ensure rapid referral of serious cases to higher centres. Field workers are also advising families to keep homes and cattle sheds clean, seal wall cracks, use protective clothing and avoid children sleeping near livestock areas.Officials said the current focus is on preventing wider transmission in border communities before seasonal sandfly activity increases further.
