NIH issues health advisory about Chikungunya

ISLAMABAD:  The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has issued an advisory regarding the prevention of Chikungunya virus infection.

To prevent the spread of chikungunya, the National Institute of Health has issued instructions to the relevant health institutions for timely and appropriate measures.

Coordinator To Prime Minister On National Health service Doctor Malik Mukhtar Ahmad Bherth said that Chikungunya is a viral disease and it is transmitted to humans by Aedes mosquito.

He said that chikungunya is a similar disease to dengue, most cases are reported from Africa, South Asia and Southeast Asia.

According to Dr Mukhtar, Chikungunya cases are being reported from different parts of Pakistan except Karachi, it is important to take precautionary measures to prevent the spread of the disease.

Health experts said symptoms of this disease appear within 3 to 7 days after a mosquito bite. These symptoms are similar to other mosquito-borne diseases such as dengue fever.

Fever, joint pain, headache, muscle pain, itching and swelling around the joints are the most common symptoms of chikungunya. But measles like rash, vomiting and nausea are also its symptoms which are experienced by few people.

In fact, chikungunya can only be diagnosed with blood tests due to symptoms similar to dengue or other diseases. Since dengue fever is a fatal disease with a 50% chance of death if left untreated, it is important to get a blood test for fever during the season when the number of mosquitoes is high.

The death rate from this virus is only 0.1% but the symptoms can be very painful. Most of the patients recover from the fever within a week, but the pain in the joints may persist for several months or even a year.

There is no specific medicine to treat chikungunya, so doctors recommend rest and drinking plenty of water. However, doctors can prescribe different medicines to reduce fever and joint pain.

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No vaccine has yet been developed to prevent this disease, but a vaccine is being tested in the United States.