What is Chikungunya?

Late last month, The Bahamas was officially added to the list of Caribbean islands with reported cases of the Chikungunya virus. I had just heard about it during orientation in May, and was intrigued to know that  a virus, similar to Dengue (transmitted by the same mosquitoes especially) had travelled through Europe and Asia and is now in the Caribbean.

What bothers me most about the situation, was that in my research, (and in trying to inform as many family and friends as I could) it seemed that we simply couldn’t get around the name…

What IS Chikungunya, and why is it that we haven’t heard about it?  My main concern was the fact that it seemed as if NO one knew what was going on…well, unless you were in the medical field…and then I realized that if you were not informed, then you would not be informed until someone was infected here in the country – which is the worse case scenario…and that happened on June 30^th, when a tourist who had previously vacationed in the Dominican Republic, visited our shores.

So what is Chikungunya? How is it spread? How is it treated? And how can it be prevented?

The word ‘chikungunya’ has been derived from an African word that means ‘to become contorted’ , which perfectly describes a tell tale symptom of a painful stooped posture that is characterized by joint pain (athralgia).   The virus is transmitted by infected Aedes egypti and Aedes albopictus mosquitoes.  These are the same mosquitoes that have transmitted many other viral infections, including Dengue fever.   Illness can occur between four to 8 days, but can range in average of two to 12 days.  

Surprisingly enough, the symptoms of Chikungunya closely resemble a few of the Dengue symptoms, among them are headaches, nausea, fever and tiredness with the addition of muscle / joint pain, rashes, vomiting. Although the symptoms normally last from a few days to weeks, persons have complained of feeling fatigued for several weeks.

There is no vaccination for Chikungunya, therefore you have to be very careful to prevent mosquito bites. Enclosed are websites and fact sheets that can assist with further information …because quite honestly, there is so much information that is available, and I don’t want you to depend solely on my blog….(maybe I’m just lazy…but that’s my story and I’m sticking to it!)

Center for Disease Control and Prevention -  http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/diseases/chikungunya

World Health Organization - http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs327/en/

Center for Disease Control Clinical Fact Sheet -http://www.cdc.gov/chikungunya/pdfs/CHIKV_Clinicians.pdf


Hands up in hope, heart full of understanding,
xoxo Jenna