Kolkata: An outbreak of chikungunya has laid hundreds low in Kolkata over the last week, with fever, severe joint pain, and shivering being the principal symptoms. While scores have tested positive, many more with similar symptoms have not been tested since the testing facility is not widely available. Physicians fear that many of these untested patients may have chikungunya. It could also be a viral infection triggered by the temperature fluctuation that occurred last week as cyclone Dana hit the Odisha coast.
A significant number of children are affected too, with many suffering from fever and body rashes. At Manipal Hospital, around 10 people tested positive in the last week. ” While the fever is receding in five days, the joint pain continues for at least another five days. Some of these patients have returned with post-chikungunya arthritis. These patients are in the age group of 30-40 years,” said Manipal Hospital infectious diseases physician, Sayan Chakraborty.
While dengue cases remained low this year, there has been a late chikungunya surge since late Oct.
Diagnostic labs also confirmed a higher number of chikungunya cases this year. While both dengue and chikungunya are caused by the bite of an infected Aedes Aegypti mosquito, dengue treatment poses more challenges and often turns out to be fatal. Chikungunya can have more long-term effects.
“Chikungunya surges or outbreaks can happen at an interval of four to five years. We have got many cases, especially from the Dum Dum area,” said infectious disease specialist, Yogiraj Ray, associate professor at IPGMER.
Experts said symptoms of dengue and chikungunya overlap, and many physicians do not even prescribe tests for chikungunya. “We are getting one to two chikungunya positive cases daily for almost one-and-a-half months. This is high compared to other years. While we are getting fewer dengue patients, there seems to be a sudden surge in chikungunya cases,” said molecular pathologist Abhirup Sarkar, lab director at Suraksha Diagnostics. In some chikungunya cases, patients may lose mobility temporarily.
“Chikungunya is not easy to detect since one has to wait for at least 5-6 days after getting the infection to detect it . While the number of patients is not significant, I have come across many with symptoms, which is higher than previous years. None of my patients has tested positive yet. But the number diagnosed remains few due to the scarcity of testing facilities and lack of awareness,” said RN Tagore International Institute of Cardiac Sciences intensivist, Sauren Panja.
