What you need to know as virus spreading in China prompts ‘forceful measures’ to be put in place
It's been half a decade now since 2020 when the Covid-19 pandemic changed the world as we knew it forever.
Since then, we have been left wondering whether another virus could one day come along and pretty much shut the planet down for an indefinite period of time.
And now, since July, over 7,000 cases of one particular virus have been reported across China's Guangdong province, prompting measures similar to those taken during the Covid-19 pandemic.
However, it's important to note for the sake of your understandably impending angst that such a virus isn't airborne like coronavirus, meaning that it is unlikely to spread like wildfire in the same way.
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Regardless, we're probably going to be hearing a lot more about the 'Chikungunya virus' (CHIKV), so it's probably best we know all we need to know about it as it prompts 'forceful measures' to now be put in place.
How does the Chikungunya virus spread?
The Chikungunya virus, which derives from a word in the Kimakonde language of southern Tanzania, meaning 'that which bends up' and describes the contorted posture of infected people with severe joint pain, is spread through the bite of an infected mosquito.
Additionally, people can also transmit it right back to the insect, meaning that if a non-infected mosquito bites a person with Chikungunya, it can contract the virus and infect the next healthy person it bites.
However, it is not contagious or transmittable from person to person.
In some rare cases, Chikungunya, which was first identified in Tanzania back in 1952, can be fatal.
What are the symptoms of the Chikungunya virus?
The Chikungunya virus presents most commonly with a headache, muscle pain, nausea, fatigue, rash and swollen joints.
And, while most symptoms usually resolve within two weeks, the 'debilitating' joint pain can hang about for months or years, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
WHO outlines: "In symptomatic patients, CHIKV disease onset is typically 4–8 days (range 2–12 days) after the bite of an infected mosquito. It is characterised by an abrupt onset of fever, frequently accompanied by severe joint pain."
Most patients recover fully from the infection.
However, occasional cases of eye, heart, and neurological complications have been reported with CHIKV infections.
"Patients at extremes of the age spectrum are at higher risk for severe disease, including newborns infected during delivery to infected mothers or bitten by infected mosquitoes in the weeks after birth, and older people with underlying medical conditions," WHO adds.
The health body also maps out that patients with severe disease require hospitalisation because of the risk of organ damage and death, noting: "Once an individual has recovered, available evidence suggests they are likely to be immune to future Chikungunya infections."
What have the experts said about the Chikungunya virus?
Diana Rojas Alvarez, a medical officer at WHO, told reporters in Geneva last month that an estimated 5.6 billion people live in areas across 119 nations at risk from the virus.
"We are seeing history repeating itself," she warned, drawing parallels to the 2004-2005 epidemic.
Back then, nearly half a million people were infected, primarily in small island territories, before the virus spread around the world.
Chikungunya poses a major threat to public health, and Chinese authorities have been quick to introduce a series of measures, some of which include the clearing of stagnant water to prevent the spread of mosquitoes and the installation of screens on doors and windows to stop the insects from entering homes.
One of the most interesting measures put in place has been the introduction of the 'elephant mosquitoes', whose larvae prey on the larvae of virus-carrying Aedes mosquitos.
Could Chikungunya virus come to the UK?
The risk of Chikungunya spreading in the UK is currently low, as there is no evidence of local transmission.
While outbreaks have occurred in parts of Europe including France and Italy, these have been small.
After the rise in cases in La Réunion, France since last summer, the UK government confirmed that the presence of the Aedes mosquitoes in European countries, and importations from infected travellers returning from endemic countries means that the likelihood of it spreading in mainland Europe is high.
Could Chikungunya virus cause a pandemic like coronavirus?
In short, the answer is unlikely.
This is because, as we say, the Chikungunya virus is mosquito-borne rather than air-borne like coronavirus.
Topics: World News, News, Health, Explained, Covid-19, Coronavirus
Rhiannon Ingle