Laboratory analysis carried out by the Tropical Medicine Institute “Pedro Kourí” (IPK) confirmed the presence of the virus.
Miami, United States. – The health authorities of Matanzas They confirmed an outbreak of Chikungunya in the Popular Council of Republican Spain, of the Perico municipality, after detecting a significant increase in patients with nonspecific fever from the first week of July.
The laboratory analysis carried out by the Tropical Medicine Institute “Pedro Kourí” (IPK), in Havana, confirmed the presence of the virus, according to an official note of the Provincial Health Directorate cited by the provincial channel TV Yumurí.
Chikungunya is an endemic arbovirosis in the region of the Americas, mainly transmitted by mosquitoes of the Aedes genre, especially Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus. The disease “is characterized by the sudden appearance of high fever accompanied by intense pain in the joints, which can be disabling and lasting from days to months or years in some cases,” says the Yumurí TV report.
The fundamental symptoms observed in patients include “high -starting sharp fever and articular pains with inflammation.” Other possible symptoms are “muscle pain, head, nausea, fatigue and cutaneous eruptions.”
Although death rarely causes, serious complications are rare, and the highest risk groups include “children under one year old, people over 65 and who suffer from chronic diseases such as diabetes or hypertension.”
The Ministry of Public Health emphasizes that “the treatment is symptomatic and in 98% of cases the management is carried out in the houses themselves.” In addition, virus infection produces immunity for life.
In response to the outbreak, local authorities implemented a series of health actions to contain the disease and avoid their propagation towards other territories, with emphasis on the control of the transmitter mosquito. Among the measures adopted are the “reinforcement of adulthood treatment (fumigation), protection of water deposits with abbe and medium sanitation actions.” At the same time, the “active search for cases, its clinical assessment and entry into the home or hospitable in correspondence with the risk” is carried out.
The authorities report that “the population participates with discipline in compliance with the measures adopted, which will allow control of this epidemiological contingency.”
The Chikungunya virus was first detected in Tanzania in 1952, and since then it has spread by more than 110 countries in Africa, Asia, America and Europe. Currently, there is no specific antiviral treatment or a generalized use vaccine. Prevention is based on avoiding mosquito bites through the “breeding control, use of repellent and protective clothing.”
The term “Chikungunya” comes from the Makonde language and means “bending by pain”, in reference to the hunched posture of those who suffer the intense articular pains characteristic of this viral disease.
