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Thu, 14:30 17 Jan 2008 GMT17

 
Chikungunya

Last reviewed: 09-08-2007

A debilitating illness


A worker from the Ministry of Health sprays insecticide around homes in a bid to stem an outbreak of the crippling mosquito-borne virus, Chikungunya in Port Louis, Mauritius, March 16, 2006. REUTERS/Nita Bhalla
A worker from the Ministry of Health sprays insecticide around homes in a bid to stem an outbreak of the crippling mosquito-borne virus, Chikungunya in Port Louis, Mauritius, March 16, 2006. REUTERS/Nita Bhalla
Chikungunya is a rare viral infection transmitted by the bite of the infected aedes aegypti mosquito, occurring primarily in tropical areas of Africa as well as South and Southeast Asia. Symptoms include high fever, joint and muscular pain, severe headaches, body aches and a rash similar to that seen in dengue patients.

  • Rarely fatal
  • Occurs after monsoon rains
  • Recent outbreaks in India and Sri Lanka

    While the flu-like fever is painful, lasting from a few days to a couple of weeks, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says no deaths from chikungunya have been conclusively proven in scientific literature.

    The virus is, however, believed to have led indirectly to scores of deaths on the Indian Ocean island of La Reunion during an outbreak which began in March 2005. By the beginning of 2006, the World Health Organisation reported more than 3,000 cases on La Reunion, as well as Mauritius, the Seychelles, Mayotte and Madagascar.

    In November 2006, government doctors in Sri Lanka said pockets of the fever had been detected across the island, with some 5,000 people infected in the far north.

    A month earlier, officials in India said the country was dealing with 1.3 million suspected cases. The outbreaks began in late August, caused largely by mosquitoes breeding in stagnant and filthy water collected during the monsoons.

    The name, chikungunya, comes from the Swahili for "that which bends up", reflecting the physique of a person suffering from the disease. According to the CDC, it was first isolated in the blood of a febrile patient in Tanzania in 1953. There is no known vaccine.


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