Health Authorities Monitor Suspected Chikungunya Cases in Dumaguete

Dumaguete City (PNA) –- Health authorities are keeping close watch on a few cases in Dumaguete City that are believed to be chikungunya, a mosquito-borne viral disease that exhibits some similar clinical symptoms as those of dengue fever.

Dr. Socrates Villamor, chief of the provincial team of the Department of Health (DOH) in Negros Oriental, on Friday confirmed that a few suspect chikungunya cases were reported to his office by the City Health Office of Dumaguete.

However, the patients were not subjected to blood serum testing by the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) in Metro Manila due to late reporting.

Ideally, a patient believed to have the viral disease should be subjected to testing within one week from the onset of symptoms, Dr. Villamor said.

Other provinces in the Philippines have reported of confirmed cases of chikungunya but so far, Negros Oriental does not have a single positive case except for those that are under suspicion, Villamor added.

Meanwhile, the head of the Regional Epidemiology Surveillance Unit (RESU) of DOH-7 visited Negros Oriental last week and brought a rapid testing kit to be turned over to its provincial counterpart and subsequently to the City Health Office of Dumaguete, disclosed Dr. Villamor.

Chikungunya is a relatively new disease not quite known to many in Dumaguete and other parts of the province, he said.

But Dr. Villamor assured that it is not a life-threatening disease unlike dengue fever in the absence of bleeding or hemorrhage.

The prominent symptom of chikungunya is joint pains, sometimes severe that it can hinder mobility of a patient.

Ma. Angelica Noel Solon in a telephone interview confirmed that her teenage son, Derrick, was diagnosed to have chikungunya recently after he returned from Manila.

Aside from the son, two of her workers, both from Barangay Cadawinonan, were also reported to have exhibited symptoms of chikungunya fever and were all diagnosed by a private physician in Dumaguete.

Dr. Villamor called on the public to be vigilant especially as it is already rainy season and to adopt the measures that would combat mosquito vectors of the viral diseases, dengue and chikungunya.

Both viral infections are transmitted between humans by an infected mosquito, specifically the aedes aegypti or aedes albopictus.

Symptoms of chikungunya that are similar to those of dengue include rashes, fever, muscle pain, headache and nausea.

The public is enjoined to undertake preventative measures such as the 4S approach, meaning, to search and destroy mosquito breeding grounds, seek early consultation, self protection such as the use of insect repellant lotion and netting and saying no to indiscriminate fogging, Dr. Villamor added. (PNA) LAP/JFP

Image Credit: www.cidrap.umn.edu