Published: 2014-01-17 years Updated: 2021-08-29
Author: Thomas C. Weiss | Contact: Disabled-World.com
Peer-reviewed publications: N / A
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Summary: Information regarding Chikungunya, a viral disease with no specific treatment that is spread by mosquitoes. Chikungunya is a viral disease transmitted to humans by infected mosquitoes. It causes fever and severe joint pain. Other symptoms include muscle pain, headache, nausea, fatigue, and rash. The proximity of mosquito breeding grounds to human habitation is a significant risk factor for chikungunya. Chikungunya fever has become epidemic with considerable amount of pain and illness.
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Main announcement
‘Chikungunya,’ is a viral disease spread by mosquitoes. This disease causes the patient to have a fever and severe joint pain. Other symptoms include headache, muscle aches, fatigue, nausea, and rash. The disease shares some clinical features with dengue and can be misdiagnosed in areas where dengue is common.
Unfortunately, there is no cure for this disease at this time. Treatment focuses on relieving the symptoms people experience. The proximity of mosquito breeding grounds to human habitation is a significant risk factor for chikungunya. Since 2004, chikungunya fever has become a pandemic with significant numbers of cases and illnesses.
The disease occurs in Asia, Africa, as well as the Indian subcontinent. In recent decades, chikungunya mosquito vectors have spread to the Americas and Europe. In 2007, the disease was first reported in an outbreak in northeastern Italy.
Chikungunya was first described during an outbreak in southern Tanzania in 1952. The disease is an alpha virus of the family ‘Togaviridae.’ The name, ‘chikungunya,’ comes from a word in the Kimakonde language and means, ‘to become distorted.’ It depicts the stooped appearance of people suffering from joint pain.
Chikungunya is characterized by sudden fever, often accompanied by joint pain. Other common signs and symptoms include headache, muscle aches, fatigue, nausea, and rash. Joint pain is often debilitating, but usually lasts for a few days, although it can last for weeks.
Most people make a full recovery, but in some cases, joint pain can continue for months or even years. Occasional cases of neurological, ocular and cardiac complications as well as gastrointestinal complaints have been reported. Serious complications are uncommon, although in the elderly, the disease can contribute to death. Many times, symptoms in people with mild infections and the infection may go unrecognized or misdiagnosed in areas where dengue has occurred.
Transmission Chikungunya
Chikungunya has been identified in nearly 40 countries in Asia, Africa, the Americas and Europe. The virus is passed from person to person through the bite of infected mosquitoes. The mosquito species commonly associated are ‘Aedes aegypti’ and ‘Aedes albopictus’, two species that can also transmit additional mosquito-borne viruses including dengue.
Mosquito bites can be detected throughout the day, although there may be peak activity in the early morning and late afternoon. Both species of mosquitoes have been found to bite outdoors, but Aedes aegypti also feeds indoors. After being bitten by an infected mosquito, the onset of chikungunya usually occurs between 4-8 days, although it can range from 2-12 days.
Diagnosis and Treatment of Chikungunya
Several methods can be used to diagnose chikungunya. Serological tests, such as enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), can confirm the presence of anti-chikungunya IgG and IgM antibodies. Levels of IgM antibodies peak 3-5 weeks after the onset of illness and persist for about 2 months.
The virus can be isolated from a person’s blood within the first few days of infection. There are different methods, ‘reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR)’, but with variable sensitivity. Some are suitable for clinical diagnosis. RT-PCR products from clinical samples can also be used for virus genotyping, allowing comparisons with virus samples from different geographical sources.
Where chikungunya treatment is concerned, there is no specific antiviral treatment for the disease. Instead, treatment is primarily aimed at relieving the symptoms an infected person experiences – especially joint pain.
Prevention and Control of Chikungunya
The proximity of mosquito vector breeding sites to human habitation is a significant risk factor for chikungunya as well as for other forms of mosquito-borne diseases. Prevention and control is primarily based on reducing the number of natural and man-made habitats filled with water that support mosquito breeding. Doing so requires the mobilization of affected communities. During outbreaks, insecticides can be sprayed to kill flying mosquitoes, applied to surfaces, around containers where mosquitoes roost, and used to treat water in containers with the goal of killing larvae. immature mosquitoes.
For protection during a chikungunya outbreak, clothing should be worn to minimize contact with a person’s skin during daytime mosquito bites. Repellents can be applied to a person’s exposed skin, or their clothing. Repellents must contain DEET, IR3535 or Icaridin. For daytime sleepers, especially young children, those who are already sick, or the elderly – mosquito nets treated with insecticide provide good protection. Mosquito coils or other insecticidal vaporizers can also reduce mosquito bites in the home.
People traveling to at-risk areas need to take basic precautions. Precautionary measures include wearing long sleeves, using repellents, wearing long pants, and ensuring that rooms are fitted with screens to prevent mosquitoes from entering.
Translate Chikungunya
Chikungunya occurs in Asia, Africa, and the Indian subcontinent. Human infections in Africa have been fairly low for a number of years, although in 1999-2000 there was a major outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In 2007, there was an outbreak of chikungunya in Gabon.
Beginning in February 2005, a major outbreak of disease occurred in the islands of the Indian Ocean. A large number of chikungunya cases in Europe have been linked to the outbreak, mainly in 2006 when the outbreak in the Indian Ocean reached its peak. A major outbreak of disease in India occurred in 2006-2007.
Several other countries in Southeast Asia are also affected by the disease. Since 2005, Indonesia, India, Myanmar, Maldives and Thailand have reported more than 1.9 million cases of chikungunya. In 2007, transmission was first reported in Europe during a localized outbreak in northeastern Italy. 197 people experienced the disease during the outbreak, and that confirms that outbreaks caused by the Aedes aegypti mosquito are certainly possible in Europe.
Both Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus have been associated with large chikungunya outbreaks. While Aedes aegypti is restricted to the tropics and subtropics, Aedes albopictus also occurs in temperate and even cold temperatures. In recent decades Aedes albopictus has spread from Asia and become established in parts of Africa, the Americas, as well as Europe. Aedes albopictus species thrive in a wide range of water-filled breeding sites that Aedes aegypti, including:
- Tree hollow
- Rock Lake
- Cocoa pods
- Tire
- Coconut shell
- Bamboo root
- Plate under the pot
Habitat diversity explains the abundance of Aedes albopictus in both rural and peri-urban areas as well as shady city parks. Aedes aegypti is more closely associated with human habitats and uses indoor breeding sites, including water tanks, vases, and concrete water tanks in bathrooms. This species also has the same artificial outdoor habitat as Aedes albopictus. In Africa, several other mosquito vectors have been implicated in disease transmission, including species of the group A. furcifer-taylori and A. luteocephalus. There is evidence that some animals, including non-primates, can act as reservoirs.
Chikungunya Virus Facts and Statistics
- In January 2014, the Public Health Agency of Canada reported that cases had been confirmed in the British Virgin Islands, Saint-Barthelemy, Guadeloupe, Dominica, Martinique and French Guyana.
- In April 2014, chikungunya was also confirmed in the Dominican Republic by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). By the end of April, it had spread to 14 countries in all, including Jamaica, St. Lucia, St. Kitts and Nevis, and Haiti, where an epidemic has been declared.
- At the end of May 2014, more than ten imported cases of the virus were reported in the United States by people traveling to Florida from areas where the virus is endemic.
- In January 2015, there were 90,481 reported cases of chikungunya in Colombia.
- Joint pain is often debilitating and can vary in duration.
- There is no cure for the disease. Treatment focuses on relieving symptoms.
- The proximity of mosquito breeding grounds to human habitation is a significant risk factor for chikungunya.
- The disease shares some clinical features with dengue and can be misdiagnosed in areas where dengue is common.
- Chikungunya is a viral disease transmitted to humans by infected mosquitoes. It causes fever and severe joint pain. Other symptoms include muscle pain, headache, nausea, fatigue, and rash.
- The disease occurs in Africa, Asia and the Indian subcontinent. In recent decades, chikungunya mosquito vectors have spread to Europe and America. In 2007, transmission of the disease was first reported in a localized outbreak in northeastern Italy. Outbreaks have since been recorded in France and Croatia.
Author credentials:
Thomas C. Weiss is a researcher and editor for Disabled World. Thomas attended college and university courses for a Master’s, Bachelor’s and two Associate’s degrees, as well as studying Disability Studies. As a Nursing Assistant, Thomas has supported people of many racial, religious, gender, class and age groups by providing care to people with all forms of disabilities. disability from Multiple Sclerosis to Parkinson’s; paralysis and quadriplegia for spina bifida.
Disability World is an independent disability community founded in 2004 to provide disability news and information to people with disabilities, seniors, their families and/or carers. . Check out our homepage for helpful news, reviews, sports, stories and guides. You can also connect with us on Twitter and Facebook or learn more about Disability World on our about us page.
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• Citation of this Page (APA): Thomas C. Weiss. (2014, January 17). Chikungunya virus: Symptoms, Diagnosis, Treatment. The world of people with disabilities. Accessed October 28, 2022 from www.disabled-world.com/health/fever.php
• Permalinks: Chikungunya Virus: Symptoms, Diagnosis, Treatment
