Written by
Dr.Syeda Sadaf Akbar
PH.D (MICROBIOLOGY
Dr. Essa Laboratory & Diagnostic Center
Chikungunya is a viral infection caused by the CHIK virus belonging to the Togaviridae family. The virus is transmitted through the bite of infected daytime biting female – primarily Aedes aegypti mosquitoes. They usually bite during the early morning and late afternoon and these people have a higher risk of getting the disease:
• older adults
• children
• pregnant women
• people with preexisting diseases
Symptoms
Symptoms include sudden fever and severe muscle and joint pain. They can be accompanied by headache, fatigue, nausea, vomiting, and a rash. Although most patients fully recover, chronic joint pain may last for several weeks or months. Other persistent problems may include eye, gastrointestinal, neurological, and heart complications. Persons with chronic health conditions, a weakened immune system, infants, and older persons are at risk of developing complications with this infection. Those with symptoms usually get ill 3-12 days after being bitten by an infected mosquito.
Chikungunya is rarely fatal. Treatment includes supportive care of symptoms. There is no antiviral treatment available.
Prevention.
Use a repellent for avoid mosquito bite, wear neutral-coloured like beige, light grey clothing with long-sleeved, and covered shoes. Make sure to get rid of water containers around dwellings and ensure that door and window screens work properly. Apply sunscreen first followed by the repellent. Standing water is the main cause and a perfect place for the Chikungunya mosquito to breed. Although it’s an aggressive daytime biter but make no mistake of its greed for human blood. Keep your place neat and clean. Do not let water be kept at a certain place for a long time. Clean your cooler water, change you flower pot water and any other place at yours home. Enough debris is left to collect over time, dirty gutters can clog up and create pockets of water perfect for mosquito breeding. Cleaning gutters regularly to make sure water is flowing smoothly can help keep mosquitoes from breeding so close to your home. Flower pots are also responsible to collect in saucers under flower pots. If left to sit for days, the water becomes an excellent breeding spot for mosquitoes. If water is used within a few days, it will likely not be enough time to create a mosquito problem, but if water is left standing for multiple days, be prepared to find a hotbed of hungry pests. Some plants can hold water in their “mouths” and offer mosquitoes enough standing water to lay their eggs. Other shrubbery can serve as a hide-out for grown mosquitoes. In addition to blood, mosquitoes feed on nectar from flowers, so they often hide in shrubbery during the day. Thinning dense shrubbery to increase air flow can help reduce the number of adult mosquitoes in our yard. Cavities in tree stumps and trunks are filled with water by rainfall or melting ice and snow, and mosquitoes may choose these holes for breeding.