‘Chikungunya can lead to chronic arthritis’

MANILA, Philippines - Chikungunya, a disease transmitted to humans through mosquito bites, may not be as deadly as dengue but it could hamper a person’s life due to joint pains, an official said yesterday.

Ronald Eullaran of the Philippine Rheumatology Association (PRA) said the joint pains could last for years and could lead to chronic arthritis.

Eullaran, medical education director of Cebu Medical Society, said the disease is not fatal, but its re-emergence is alarming because of its socio-economic impact.

“When people are hit by this infection, by this virus, they get a lot of absences from work. So the socio-economic impact is big,” he said.

Eullaran said awareness about chikungunya is still low in the country despite its re-emergence four years ago.

Awareness about the disease is low even among doctors, he added.

Eullaran said chikungunya used to be transmitted through the bite of Aedes aegypti, the same mosquito specie that carries the dengue virus.

 But now, its the Aedes albopictus mosquitoes that carry the disease due to mutation.

“Some parts of the world are reporting that chikungunya is also carried by anapolis mosquitoes,” he said.

“Surprisingly the virus evolved. It used to be aegypti only but there are other vectors involved.” 

Eullaran said rheumatologists did not immediately recognize chikungunya when it re-emerged five years ago.

They wondered why patients complained of severe pain until they realized that chikungunya was back, he said.

Eullaran said all doctors could do is to ease the pain of patients. 

The best prevention against chikungunya and dengue is to eliminate the breeding sites of mosquitoes, he added.