Chikungunya - Mosquito borne virus - Really Complete Information
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NO CURE - NO VACCINE - HORRIBLE PAIN - MOSQUITO BORNE VIRUS
Pain seems to go away eventually - no need to panic.
Chikungunya: An urban disease resembling dengue fever.
Chikungunya can cause severe joint pain and arthritis-like symptoms, has no cure,
and no treatment, so the most effective protection is prevention.
chikungunya is a word that means pain so crippling, it makes you walk doubled-over.
The virus is spread to humans by the bite of an infected female Aedes species mosquito
– Aedes aegypti or Aedes albopictus. These are the same tropical and sub-tropical mosquitoes
that carry the dengue virus. They breed in or near human habitations and prefer to feed on
humans during the daytime in shady areas, but may also bite early in the night.
Chikungunya sounds hard for elders who already have painful arthritis.
We already have cases of chikungunya in the USA.
The CDC said 12 (USA) states have reported cases.
There is currently no evidence that any mosquitoes in North Carolina carry the chikungunya virus.
There is also no current evidence that any mosquito carrying chikungunya virus is present in
the continental United States (other than from tourists infected on vacation).
During the first week or so of infection, chikungunya virus can be passed from an infected
person to another mosquito through mosquito bites. An infected mosquito can then transmit
the virus to other people…."
OF COURSE, since it is transmitted by mosquito, it may become a local or national epidemic.
If you use both sunscreen and insect repellent, apply the sunscreen first and then the repellent.
An outbreak in the Caribbean of chikungunya, a mosquito-borne virus,
Chikungunya virus - CDC
"The most common symptoms of chikungunya virus infection are fever and joint pain.
Other symptoms may include headache, muscle pain, joint swelling, rash, headache
and nose and gum bleeding".
Outbreaks have occurred in countries in Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Indian, Pacific Oceans
and, most recently, in the Caribbean.
In late 2013, chikungunya virus was found for the first time in the Americas on islands
in the Caribbean.
There is no vaccine to prevent or medicine to treat chikungunya virus infection.
Travelers can protect themselves by preventing mosquito bites.
When traveling to countries with chikungunya virus, use insect repellent, wear long
sleeves and pants, and stay in places with air conditioning or that use window and
door screens."
Symptoms of chikungunya usually begin three to seven days after being bitten by an infected
mosquito.
Symptoms typically include the sudden onset of fever and severe, often disabling, joint pains
in the hands and feet. Many patients feel better within a week; however, the joint pain may
persist for months or years in some people.
There is no medicine to treat chikungunya virus infection or disease.
As far as we know, most cases found in the USA resulted from bites in the Caribbean.
Chikungunya disease does not often result in death, but the symptoms can be severe and disabling.
Newborns exposed during delivery, adults over 65 years and people with chronic medical
conditions have a greater risk for a severe form of the disease. - islandgazette.net
Chikungunya virus spreads to US, Cuba
"Chikungunya virus is an alphavirus closely related to the o'nyong'nyong virus,
the Ross River virus in Australia, and the viruses that cause eastern equine encephalitis
and western equine encephalitis." - Wikipedia
CDC issues warning about painful virus from mosquitoes
First Case of Chikungunya Confirmed in NC, USA
Untreatable virus spreading in the Caribbean now afflicts 4600 - LA Times
Haiti - Health - Already nearly 40000 cases of Chikungunya
Chikungunya virus - CDC
The chikungunya virus is present in Africa, southeast Asia, the Indian subcontinent and Indian Ocean islands
MORE BACKGROUND INFORMATION about CHIKUNGUNYA:
QUOTED FROM AN "AP" FILE - I CAN NOT FIND THE REAL SOURCE:
"Chikungunya, a painful, mosquito-borne virus that's spreading fast across the Americas, can be more serious than feared, researchers report.
They found it can cause a serious brain inflammation called encephalitis far more frequently than reported before. That's bad news for Latin America and the Caribbean, where the rate of infection is about a million people a year.
"Since there is no vaccine to prevent chikungunya and no medicine to treat it, people who are traveling to these areas should be aware of this infection and take steps to avoid mosquito bites, such as wearing repellent and long sleeves and pants if possible," said Dr. Patrick Gérardin of Central University Hospital in Saint Pierre, Reunion Island, who led the study.
Chikungunya is not usually deadly, but it can cause a very bad headache, joint pain, rash and fever. Its name in the Makonde language, spoken in Tanzania and Mozambique in Africa, means "it bends up," because patients are often contorted with pain. They can spend weeks in bed, racked with pain.
The virus only arrived in the Western Hemisphere in December 2013, on St. Martin. But it spread fast and has been found as far north as Florida and across Central and South America.
More than 600,000 cases have been reported so far this year, with 76 deaths, according to the Pan American Health Organization. In 2013 and 2014 more than 1.1 million cases were reported and it killed 194 people.
Gerardin and colleagues studied an outbreak on Reunion Island in 2005 and 2006. They went back through medical records and found encephalitis had been diagnosed in 8.6 per 100,000 people. That's a much higher rate than previously believed, they reported in the journal Neurology.
Encephalitis was more likely in infants and people over 65. The incidence rate in infants was 187 per 100,000 people; it was 37 per 100,000 people in people over age 65, they found.
"These numbers are both much higher than the rates of encephalitis in the United States in these age categories, even when you add together all the causes of encephalitis," Gérardin said.
They said it's higher than the rate of encephalitis the United States from West Nile virus and similar infections between 1999 and 2007.
West Nile was only introduced into the United States in 1999, but it quickly spread to all 50 states as well as Canada and Mexico. Since then, it's infected hundredsof thousands of people, causing severe illness in about 40,000 and killing more than 1,600.
Fewer than 1 percent of people who are infected will develop a serious neurologic illness such as encephalitis or meningitis (inflammation of the brain or surrounding tissues).
Symptoms of encephalitis or meningitis include headache, high fever, neck stiffness, disorientation, coma, tremors, seizures, or paralysis.
There's no vaccine against either chikungunya or West Nile and the only treatment is rest and pain relief."
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Chikungunya - ECDC - european Centre for Disease Prvention and Control
Chikungunya - Wikipedia
"The word chikungunya is thought to derive from a description in the Makonde language,
meaning "that which bends up", of the contorted posture of patients afflicted with the
severe joint pain and arthritic symptoms associated with this disease. The disease was
first described by Marion Robinson and W.H.R. Lumsden in 1955, following an outbreak
in 1952 on the Makonde Plateau, along the border between Mozambique and Tanganyika
(the mainland part of modern day Tanzania)." - Wikipedia
Chikungunya - Public Health Agency of Canada
Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) - OLD - 2005
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