Must Know Facts about The Chikungunya Disease

The Chikungunya disease, since its discovery has affected millions of lives. It is moving gradually from continent to continent and it keeps affecting more people as the day goes by. Much of this is owed to the fact that very little is known about this mosquito-marketing disease.

* The Chikungunya disease was first discovered in an outbreak that occurred in Tanzania, in the year 1952.

* Chikungunya is a viral disease caused by the chikungunya virus. Chikungunya virus is an RNA virus that belongs to the alphavirus genus of the family Togaviridae.

* Chikungunya disease is mosquito-borne. Its major vectors are two species of mosquito; the Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus. These mosquitoes can carry the virus from an infected person after biting and transfer to a susceptible person during biting, and these mosquitoes operate mostly in day time.

* Symptoms of the Chikungunya disease include fever and severe joint pain, muscle pain, headache, nausea,
fatigue and rash (in some cases).

* Apart from Africa, outbreaks have also been recorded in continents like Asia and Europe. In recent decades, outbreaks have been recorded in India and north-eastern Italy. The most recent outbreak has now occurred in the U.S and the Caribbean, so indefinitely, Chikungunya can spread anywhere.

* It's not transmitted from human to human, though, in rare cases, it can be spread from mother to newborn. According to the CDC, theoretically it can be spread via blood transfusion, though this has never happened.

* The Chikungunya disease often doesn't lead to death, but due to the severe pain it causes at joints, it can lead to disability and the cause of death in older people.

* There is no known cure for the chikungunya disease. Treatments are only aimed at relieving its symptoms.

* The Chikungunya disease is a self-limiting disease, and infected people recover from it. Recovery from the disease varies by age. Younger people recover within 4 to 13 days; middle-aged people recover in 1 to 3 months. Recovery is longer for the elderly. The severity of the disease as well as its duration is less in younger people and pregnant women.

To know more about the Chikungunya disease, it's preventives measures, medications, etc, Read here...