Chikungunya is vector borne viral disease and transmitted by Aedes mosquito producing (dengue like), fever but without life threatening. Aedes mosquito’s breading activity is favorable in India, a country with tropical climate coupled with poor conditions of living, mining, deforestation, and with new Irrigation projects and unattended pools of stagnant water. Chikungunya is an African term for fever. This disease has nothing to do with bird flu or avian influenza. It is a viral fever.
Symptoms of Chikungunya:
This disease is characterized by
1. Loss of appetite
2. Constipation
3. Fever
4. Mild, headache
5. Joint pains, rendering the patient immobile and bending in the body.
This is more common during monsoon season as there is less sunlight in monsoon. The disease germs grow faster in this season. The sudden onset of monsoon after the hot summer season diminishes the normal health of a person, forcing him prone to this disease.
Other causes:
1. Drinking contaminated water
2. Living in unhygienic conditions
3. clogged drainage system
4. Unclaimed garbage
5. Manure heaps.
Steps to control spreading of disease:
1. Take utmost care to prevent mosquito breeding in your vicinity.
2. Keep the vessels used for storing water, dry for 24 hours in a week so that the eggs of the mosquito will die. (Mosquito breeds in stagnant water).This will help in breaking the transmission cycle.
3. Use mosquito repellents while working in the fields.
4. Fill in the ditches and cover the containers with lids where water stagnates.
5. Stock ponds with fish which eat mosquito eggs.
6. Use insecticides judiciously in right places.
7. Use mosquito nets in the homes.
Diet:
During rainy season, take a diet which is light, hot and nutritious. Avoid oily food and drink moderate fluids.
Precautions during infection:
1. Reside in a room devoid of breeze.
2. Wear thick warm clothes.
3. Use only boiled and cooled water for drinking.
Treatment:
There is no specific treatment but only symptomatic treatment for fever, taking light diet which is easy for digestion and bed rest etc.
