BY GLENDA SOLOGASTOA
ILOILO City – Suspected cases of chikungunya, a mosquito-borne disease similar to dengue, were reported in the Iloilo towns of Carles, Tigbauan, Guimbal, Igbaras, and Oton.
Chikungunya causes fever and severe joint pain. Other symptoms include muscle pain, headache, nausea, fatigue and rash.
The disease shares some clinical signs with dengue, and can be misdiagnosed in areas where dengue is common, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
Blood samples from the suspected cases have been sent to the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) in Metro Manila for validation, said Dr. Ma. Socorro Colmenares-Quiñon of the Provincial Health Office (PHO).
She did not discount the possibility that the suspected cases may in fact turn out to be German measles or other diseases.
Result of the RITM analysis of the blood samples may be known in two weeks.
Carles has 102 suspected chikungunya cases; Tigbauan, 43; Igbaras, 118; and Oton, 20.
There were suspected cases, too, in Guimbal.
In Carles, there were a hundred suspected cases in Barangay Bangcal, said Quiñon.
According to the WHO website, most chikungunya patients recover fully, but in some cases joint pain may persist for several months, or even years.
Chikungunya is rarely fatal. Symptoms are generally self-limiting and last for two to three days. The virus remains in the human system for five to seven days and mosquitoes feeding on an infected person during this period can also become infected.
Occasional cases of eye, neurological and heart complications have been reported, as well as gastrointestinal complaints.
Serious complications are not common, but in older people, the disease can contribute to the cause of death, said WHO.
Often symptoms in infected individuals are mild and the infection may go unrecognized, or be misdiagnosed in areas where dengue occurs./PN
