GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews / 22 July) – Health authorities are closely watching another village in nearby Koronadal City due to the emergence of suspected cases of the mosquito-borne chikungunya disease.[]/a> with |||
But she said the detection and increase in chikungunya cases in the city is considered alarming since it is an emerging disease or detected in the area for the first time.
According to the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Media Centre, chikungunya is a viral disease that is spread by mosquitoes and causes fever and severe joint pain. Other symptoms include muscle pain, headache, nausea, fatigue and rash.
The disease, the WHO said, “shares some clinical signs with dengue, and can be misdiagnosed in areas where dengue is common.”
It added that there is “no cure for the disease. Treatment is focused on relieving the symptoms.”
“The proximity of mosquito breeding sites to human habitation is a significant risk factor for chikungunya,” it said.
Barangay San Roque is located at the boundary of Koronadal City and Tampakan town, where the initial chikungunya cases were detected in early Ju
ne.
The village is near the banana plantations of the Tampakan-based Global Fruits Corporation (GFC) and Lapanday Diversified Products.
The South Cotabato Integrated Provincial Health Office (IPHO) earlier pointed to the area’s banana plantations as the possible breeding places of mosquitoes that carry the chikungunya virus.
Aturdido said that aside from the village’s proximity to Tampakan, some of its residents are working in the banana plantations.
The entire municipality of Tampakan was placed under a state of calamity last July 9 due to the rising chikungunya cases that then reached 306.
The affected areas were barangays Poblacion, Maltana and Kipalbig, where the initial cases of chikungunya were detected in the first week of June.
Aside from Tampakan, two cases of chikungunya were confirmed last July 8 by local health personnel in Barangay Crossing Rubber in Tupi town.
