Reasonable Rascal
02-17-03, 22:54
CHIKUNGUNYA - INDONESIA (JAVA)
******************************
A ProMED-mail post
Date: Mon 17 Feb 2003
From: Pablo Nart <p.nart@virgin.net>
Source: The Jakarta Post, Mon 17 Feb 2003 [edited]
<http://www.thejakartapost.com/detailnational.asp?fileid=20030217.D01&irec=1>
Indonesia: Chikungunya Outbreaks in West Java
---------------------------------------------
A mysterious disease, locally known as chikungunya, has spread further in West Java, with more than 70 people in Cirebon regency infected since last week, local health officials said on Sat 15 Feb 2003. Jarnadi Kusmayadi, a senior official with the city's health office, was quoted by Antara as saying that the disease had attacked 66 people in the villages of Bojong Lor and Wetan, Klangenan sub-district, and 7 others in Sedong Kidul and Karangwuni villages, Sedong sub-district.
According to Jarnadi, [this is not the first appearance of the disease in this area]; it infected at least 50 residents at Sumber village in Sumber sub-district last year. However, he said the current outbreaks of chikungunya were categorized as an "extraordinary" occurrence, although it had yet to spread extensively in Cirebon. He said the local administration had been taking measures to prevent the disease from spreading to other villages in Cirebon and neighboring towns. The sub-district administrations have provided medicine to chikungunya sufferers in their respective regions to try and stop the disease from spreading, Jarnadi said. He acknowledged that chikungunya had spread quickly to a number of other villages, but could not say how many additional patients were infected, as his office was still collecting data.
"A disease of this nature can spread quickly through mosquito bites, and it is suspected to have been carried by urban people from Jakarta or others from outside Cirebon," Jarnadi said. He said chikungunya was not a lethal disease, but should the virus attack joints in the body, it could leave the sufferer unable to walk and cause pain for months.
Chikungunya was first detected in December 2002 in the West Java capital of Bandung and continued to spread in the regency this week. The disease has affected more than 230 residents in the villages of Mandalamukti and Ciptagumati in Bandung. According to data from the public health center in Cikalongwetan, the number of people affected by the disease has increased to 231, from 90 in December 2002. Local health officials gave vitamin B1 shots to unaffected villagers to try and stop the spread of the disease [?]. According to local doctor Sudradjat, Chikungunya first emerged 3 months ago [circa November 2002] after several people were bitten by _Aedes albopictus_ mosquitoes.
Several patients have said symptoms of the disease were at first similar to dengue fever, but after several days they experienced debilitating pain in their bones, leaving them unable to walk. However, after one week the sufferers recovered without any medication.
--
ProMED-mail
<promed@promedmail.org>
[Chikungunya (meaning "doubled up") virus was isolated during an epidemic in Tanzania in 1952 from both patients and mosquitoes. Subsequently it has been isolated frequently from humans and mosquitoes in tropical Africa, India, and Southeast Asia. Non-human reservoir species have not been identified unequivocally, and migrants and travellers are blamed frequently for spread of infection; e.g., for the comparatively recent introduction of the disease into Malaysia. Recent laboratory studies suggest that in southeast Asia, _Aedes albopictus_ is a more competent vector of chikungunya virus than _Aedes aegypti_.
The largest epidemics of chikungunya in recent years have occurred in India and Indonesia. As described above, the clinical picture resembles that of dengue fever with which it is often confused. However, chikungunya virus and dengue virus, though both arthropod-borne, are unrelated; the former being an alphavirus and the later a flavivirus. After an incubation period of 2 to 4 days, there is sudden onset of fever followed by crippling joint pains which may temporarily incapacitate the patient. Arthralgia is the most typical sign, occurring in around 70 percent of cases. The acute phase of the disease lasts for 2 to 4 days with recovery in 5 to 7 days. Treatment is palliative. - Mod.CP]
******************************
A ProMED-mail post
Date: Mon 17 Feb 2003
From: Pablo Nart <p.nart@virgin.net>
Source: The Jakarta Post, Mon 17 Feb 2003 [edited]
<http://www.thejakartapost.com/detailnational.asp?fileid=20030217.D01&irec=1>
Indonesia: Chikungunya Outbreaks in West Java
---------------------------------------------
A mysterious disease, locally known as chikungunya, has spread further in West Java, with more than 70 people in Cirebon regency infected since last week, local health officials said on Sat 15 Feb 2003. Jarnadi Kusmayadi, a senior official with the city's health office, was quoted by Antara as saying that the disease had attacked 66 people in the villages of Bojong Lor and Wetan, Klangenan sub-district, and 7 others in Sedong Kidul and Karangwuni villages, Sedong sub-district.
According to Jarnadi, [this is not the first appearance of the disease in this area]; it infected at least 50 residents at Sumber village in Sumber sub-district last year. However, he said the current outbreaks of chikungunya were categorized as an "extraordinary" occurrence, although it had yet to spread extensively in Cirebon. He said the local administration had been taking measures to prevent the disease from spreading to other villages in Cirebon and neighboring towns. The sub-district administrations have provided medicine to chikungunya sufferers in their respective regions to try and stop the disease from spreading, Jarnadi said. He acknowledged that chikungunya had spread quickly to a number of other villages, but could not say how many additional patients were infected, as his office was still collecting data.
"A disease of this nature can spread quickly through mosquito bites, and it is suspected to have been carried by urban people from Jakarta or others from outside Cirebon," Jarnadi said. He said chikungunya was not a lethal disease, but should the virus attack joints in the body, it could leave the sufferer unable to walk and cause pain for months.
Chikungunya was first detected in December 2002 in the West Java capital of Bandung and continued to spread in the regency this week. The disease has affected more than 230 residents in the villages of Mandalamukti and Ciptagumati in Bandung. According to data from the public health center in Cikalongwetan, the number of people affected by the disease has increased to 231, from 90 in December 2002. Local health officials gave vitamin B1 shots to unaffected villagers to try and stop the spread of the disease [?]. According to local doctor Sudradjat, Chikungunya first emerged 3 months ago [circa November 2002] after several people were bitten by _Aedes albopictus_ mosquitoes.
Several patients have said symptoms of the disease were at first similar to dengue fever, but after several days they experienced debilitating pain in their bones, leaving them unable to walk. However, after one week the sufferers recovered without any medication.
--
ProMED-mail
<promed@promedmail.org>
[Chikungunya (meaning "doubled up") virus was isolated during an epidemic in Tanzania in 1952 from both patients and mosquitoes. Subsequently it has been isolated frequently from humans and mosquitoes in tropical Africa, India, and Southeast Asia. Non-human reservoir species have not been identified unequivocally, and migrants and travellers are blamed frequently for spread of infection; e.g., for the comparatively recent introduction of the disease into Malaysia. Recent laboratory studies suggest that in southeast Asia, _Aedes albopictus_ is a more competent vector of chikungunya virus than _Aedes aegypti_.
The largest epidemics of chikungunya in recent years have occurred in India and Indonesia. As described above, the clinical picture resembles that of dengue fever with which it is often confused. However, chikungunya virus and dengue virus, though both arthropod-borne, are unrelated; the former being an alphavirus and the later a flavivirus. After an incubation period of 2 to 4 days, there is sudden onset of fever followed by crippling joint pains which may temporarily incapacitate the patient. Arthralgia is the most typical sign, occurring in around 70 percent of cases. The acute phase of the disease lasts for 2 to 4 days with recovery in 5 to 7 days. Treatment is palliative. - Mod.CP]