Travellers to India: Beware of Chikungunya
Chikungunya, meaning “that which bends up”, is a mosquito-carried viral disease characterized by severe muscle and joint pain and suffering from fever, headaches, a rash, nausea and fatigue.
There is no treatment, and the only way to avoid the disease is to avoid mosquito bites. Since 2004, about 300,000 cases have been reported from islands in the Indian Ocean, including 264,000 from Réunion. Madagascar, Mauritius, the Seychelles and other islands have also had outbreaks. Southern India has had at least 180,000 suspected cases.
“This epidemic is somewhat unprecedented in terms of the size and simultaneity of these epidemics in Réunion and India,” said Dr. Grant L. Campbell, a medical epidemiologist in Fort Collins, Colo., with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “It’s really flared up now in a dramatic way.”
And it seems that travellers are bringing the virus and the disease with them:
Europe has had about 340 cases, mainly in France, all in travelers. A dozen cases have been diagnosed in the United States since 2005, also in travelers, according to a report last month by the disease centers. In the past few weeks, Dr. Campbell said, his center has been receiving more and more calls from doctors with suspected cases, mostly in people who have recently been to India.
See the full story from the NY Times. For more on chikungunya fever, see the CDC Fact Sheet, and the list of reported cases in the US among international travellers.
Tags: Chikungunya, epidemic, India, mosquitos, travel-health, travelers-healthRelated Stories
POSTED IN: Asia Travel News
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