The Dhaka Times Desk We have never heard of this disease before. Such a new disease called Chikungunya! What is this chikungunya disease?
Recently, many patients are complaining that they had viral fever or dengue fever, but even after the fever is cured, the body is not doing well at all. Generally, any virus or dengue fever patient gets better within 7 to 10 days. But at present it is seen that even if the fever is gone, the patient continues to feel sick and weak for some time, especially the pain in the joints of the body does not go away. Again weakness-fatigue does not cut. Although it is suspected to be dengue, the disease is probably not dengue fever; Rather, it is another viral disease, which is called chikungunya disease!
What is Chikungunya?
Chikungunya is a viral disease. It has many similarities with our well-known dengue. Like dengue fever, this virus enters the human body through the bite of Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopticus mosquitoes. Chikungunya is spread from humans to mosquitoes and from mosquitoes to humans. Apart from humans, the life cycle of this virus exists in monkeys, birds, sharp-toothed animals such as rats, experts said.
Symptoms of Chikungunya
The main symptoms of chikungunya are fever and joint pain. The body temperature can rise quite often up to 104 degrees. But does not shiver or sweat. Along with fever, headache, eye irritation, rash like red rash on the body, depression, insomnia, nausea etc. may appear. Severe pain is felt in different parts of the body, especially in the joints. The body may even swell. Apart from this, severe fatigue, muscle pain, joint pain etc. may persist for several weeks even after the fever is gone. In some cases, joint pain or inflammation may persist for months; Which in many cases makes the patient unable to perform normal activities. The patient is so excruciating in pain that it is difficult to walk, the patient bends forward and walks.
How testing is done
If Chikungunya is suspected, it can be confirmed by a blood test. In this case, the antibody produced against the virus in the patient's blood is tested. It may take 2 to 12 days.
Treatment of chikungunya disease
As with other viral fevers, there is currently no specific treatment for this disease. Its treatment is mainly to cure the symptoms of this disease. The patient should be kept at complete rest and given plenty of water or other fluids. Only paracetamol is sufficient for fever. Along with this, the body should be sponged (wiped) with water. For severe pain, other good medicines may be needed, but should be taken as per the doctor's advice. It is better to keep the patient inside a mosquito net so that he does not get bitten by mosquitoes again. The reason is that if a mosquito bites an infected patient and a healthy person is bitten by that mosquito, that person can also be infected with this disease.
Prevention of chikungunya disease
There is still no vaccine for chikungunya fever. No vaccine has been released. Therefore, the only way to avoid the disease is to prevent the Aedes mosquito. Destruction of Aedes breeding grounds and elimination of mosquitoes should be the main objective. Places around the house where water may accumulate should be removed and kept clean regularly. Take care that water does not accumulate in cans, soft drink cans, flower tubs. Nets on doors and windows, mosquito nets should be used while sleeping. It is good to know that Aedes mosquitoes bite mainly during the day and outdoors.
More information about Chikungunya
# Chikungunya disease is caused by the bite of the Aedes mosquito. So stay away from mosquitoes.
# infants do not usually develop chikungunya when breastfed. So affected mothers have no reason to worry.
# Chikungunya is the first way to know if you have fever, headache, body aches and severe pain in the groin. As with dengue, there may be an allergic or scratchy rash on the skin. However, bleeding does not occur, and even blood platelets do not decrease.
Dr. ABM Abdullah, Dean, Faculty of Medicine, Professor Department of Medicine, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University This report is courtesy of https://www.platform-med.org.
Read about the long-term effects of Chikungunya- "Do you know about the long-term effects of Chikungunya?"
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