DOH probes spreading pattern of mosquito-borne disease chikungunya

The Department of Health (DOH) is studying the spreading pattern of chikungunya, a mosquito-borne disease that affects mainly adults, a report on Balitanghali said on Tuesday.   DOH is finding out if the spread of chikungunya outside Cagayan de Oro, where the first cases were reported, is connected with typhoon Sendong, which whipped the province last year. According to Dr. Enrique Tayag, head of the DOH's National Epidemiology Center, there were already chikungunya cases in Cagayan de Oro even before typhoon Sendong. He said this may have spread outside the province through the relief workers who were bitten by mosquitoes carrying the disease.   Aside from Cagayan de Oro, the disease was also reported in in Ilocos, Cagayan Valley, Metro Manila, Calabarzon, Albay, Western Visayas, Northern Mindanao, Davao, Caraga and Surigao del Sur, the Balitanghali report said.   Last September, the DOH advised the public to take precautions against chikungunya.   “Chikungunya is an African derivation of ‘that which bends up’ to describe patients with acute but long-term arthritis in several joints,” Tayag said in a previous report.   Chikungunya causes fever and skin rash similar to dengue, but Tayag noted that it “mostly affects adults unlike dengue in which children are mostly affected.”   The World Health Organization (WHO) said chikungunya is a viral disease spread by mosquitoes that causes fever and severe joint pain. Its symptoms include muscle pain, headache, nausea, fatigue and rashes.   Signs and symptoms include an abrupt onset of fever frequently accompanied by joint pain, according to WHO. After the bite of an infected mosquito, illness usually occurs between four and eight days, but can range from two to 12 days.   There is no cure for the disease, and treatment is focused on relieving the symptoms, WHO said.   While chikungunya may not be as deadly as dengue, Tayag said it merits the same urgency from doctors and patients.   A patient who suffers from symptoms such as fever and rashes should "assume" he or she has dengue, and seek medical help, Tayag advised. —-Carmela G. Lapeña/KBK, GMA News