Everything you need to know about Chikungunya Causes, Symptoms, Prevention and Treatment

Chikungunya is a viral fever transmitted by mosquitoes and spreads in humans by the bite of Aedes mosquitoes infected with Chikungunya virus.

In this post let us see the answers for few questions like:

• Which mosquitoes carry chikungunya?
• How long does chikungunya last in our body?
• How much time does it take to recover from chikungunya?
• How do you diagnose chikungunya?

First let us see the in-depth information of what is Chikungunya and what causes Chikungunya?

Mosquito biting a man (Image Courtesy: SweetCrisis|Freedigitalphotos.net)

Chikungunya fever is an insect-borne viral fever that is transmitted to the humans by the bite of the virus infected Aedes mosquitoes.

Chikungunya virus: Chikungunya is caused by a virus named as Alphavirus (CHIKV) that belongs to the family Togaviridae.

Chikungunya symptoms

The incubation period of chikungunya fever lasts from 2 days to 12 days, usually 2 to 3 days. The fever lasts for 2 to 3 days. So it takes us 4,5 days to recover from chikungunya fever.

Chikungunya fever is characterized by the following symptoms such as the patient will experience few of the below listed symptoms

• Fever with a temperature of 40°C or 104ºF.
• Headache
• Conjunctivitis
• Photophobia
• Loss of taste
• Arthralgia (pain of the joints)
• Swelling of joints
• Stiffness of the joints
• Myalgia (Muscular pain)
• Fatigue (Weakness)
• Nausea
• Vomiting
• Chikungunya Rashes

Chikungunya Prevention

The chikungunya prevention can be done by effective mosquito control. Mosquitoes can be controlled by using insect (mosquito) repellents like DEET, icaridin, PMD etc,.

Screens can be used for windows and doors for protection against insects.

Dresses containing long sleeves should be worn.

Mosquito repellents can be applied on the skin for protection against mosquito bite.

Stagnant water should be avoided by draining the water regularly as it prevents the breeding of the mosquitoes.

Mosquito nets should be used for protection against insect bite.

Chikungunya Treatment

There is no specific treatment for the chikungunya fever. Vaccines are also not available at present.

Rhus Tox, Eupatorium Perf, Bryonia, Arnica are some of the few homeopathic drugs that are used for the treatment of chikungunya.