DOH 12 confirms mosquito-borne Chikungunya fever in Sarangani

By Danilo E. Doguiles

Tuesday 22nd of January 2013

KORONADAL CITY, South Cotabato, Jan. 22 (PIA) -- Soccsksargen Region’s Department of Health (DOH-12) has recently confirmed several cases of Chikungunya (also called CHIK) fever in nearby Sarangani province.

Jenelyn Ellie Ventura, information officer of DOH-12, told Philippine Information Agency 12 this morning that 57 Chikungunya cases have been clinically diagnosed from the coastal towns of Maitum and Kiamba since early January.

Of these, Ventura said, 35 cases were from Kiamba and 22 from Maitum.

“Thirteen of the 15 samples sent to the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) have been confirmed positive,” she added.

According to a fact sheet on the diseases from US’ Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) the chikungunya virus, like dengue, is also transmitted by bites from infected female Aedes mosquitoes Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus.

It shares similar clinical symptoms with dengue such as high fever and severe joint pain that start suddenly. It can also cause headache, muscle pain and rash.

“Chikungunya does not often result in death, but the symptoms can be disabling, and some people may get severe complications,” it continued. It may be misdiagnosed as dengue fever in areas where dengue is prevalent.

CDC noted that no specific medication is available to treat the disease, but use of other medicines, except aspirin, may help lower fever and joint pains. There is also no vaccine to prevent it.

Ventura added that DOH officials have emphasized that similar to dengue, avoiding mosquito bites remains the best prevention from infection by the chikungunya virus.

Among these measures are wearing of long-sleeved shirts and pants and applying of mosquito repellents on exposed skin as well.

Since the carrier Aedes mosquitoes prefer standing water for mosquito eggs development, cleaning up of standing water collected in canals, tires, pots, vases, gutters, cans, and other water storage vessels may also help curtail its spread.

In September last year, National Epidemiology Center head Dr. Enrique Tayag pointed out that chikungunya fever is not as deadly as dengue but should merit the same urgency from doctors and patients.

A patient who suffers from symptoms such as fever and rashes should assume that he or she has dengue, and should seek medical help, he said.

In the country many chikungunya cases have been reported in Metro Manila, Laguna, Pangasian and parts of Mindanao. (DEDoguiles-PIA 12)