rdination with biodiversity boards at the village level is the way ahead in surveillance of wildlife and forest loss under the One Health approach. “For example, it can give us information if the numbers of animals that are hosts of the tick-borne virus are increasing or decreasing. It also gives the local communities a sense of responsibility and we can get good information from them because most of the affected villages are situated deep inside the forests,” Kiran said.
So far, the coordination is limited at the taluk and district levels. In 2018-2019, 445 human cases of the KFD were reported in Karnataka which dropped to 287 in 2019-2020; 2020-2021 was a “mild year” with 20 to 22 cases. Kiran says sensitisation drives and better surveillance at the village level were contributing factors to the decline of reported cases.
Working with affected communities
“Earlier people used to notice the death of monkeys but not report. We started getting good information about monkey deaths and there was good vaccination coverage for the people in the last couple of years. Nature has also been kind to us. We had good rains and tick density seems to have come down in the last few years,” said Kiran.
Mujeeb Rahman, a social scientist who works with the KFD-affected communities in Karnataka and Kerala as part of the India-UK MonkeyFeverRisk project says earlier, monkey carcasses would be burned or buried by the farmers. “This put them at greater risk of contracting the KFD as monkeys are hosts for the KFD, and their carcasses and immediate vicinity would have an abundance of infected ticks. However, communities that are aware of these aspects, inform both the forest and health department and also take precautions,” said Rahman.
“Although forest use and forest-related occupations are correlated with the KFD, it has to be kept in mind that the local communities in these areas who contract the KFD are often marginalised groups with few viable alternatives with respect to livelihoods,” Rahman, a research associate at the Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE), Bengaluru, told Mongabay-India, adding that prohibitions such as blanket bans that undercut access to forests are likely to be harmful to these communities.
In Kerala, for example, the Cholanaikka tribe, with which Rahman works, live very close to the evergreen climax forest (between teak plantations and the forest). Their earning comes from forest products like honey harvest, medicinal plants, teak flowers, lichens, fishing, and amla or Indian gooseberry. In Karnataka, the smallholder families who reside in the forest periphery are vulnerable to the KFD. They are not heavily dependent on the forest itself for their livelihoods but are closely linked with the forest for other purposes including grazing livestock. “Livestock is allowed to graze in the forest and they return on their own in the evening likely carrying more hard ticks into living spaces and properties,” points out Rahman.
Rahman notes that as primary stakeholders, communities and their representatives should be allowed to play an inclusive role in decision-making concerning the KFD. They also have the potential to play a very significant role in various aspects of the KFD surveillance as well as mitigation.
“In Karnataka, for example, in places such as Sagar, Shivamogga, the hamlets are widely spread across remote areas and some are also located at the periphery of the forest. Due to their remoteness, these hamlets may not be in a position to receive information provided by ASHA workers/ or primary healthcare centres about monkey deaths or to report the occurrence of monkey deaths to the authorities,” he said.
Looking beyond monkeys for surveillance
While large monkey die-offs (Macaca radiata, Semnopithecus hypoleucus, and Semnopithecus priam species) are powerful indicators that KFDV is circulating in the landscape, Kiran, the KFD Nodal Officer in Karnataka, says that enhanced surveillance would need to go beyond monkeys.
“Monkeys die within 10 to 15 days of the infection and the distance cove