Specialists at the University Teaching Hospital (HEU) in Tegucigalpa, Honduras say they have confirmed three chikungunya cases in recent hours, according to a El Herado report Friday (computer translated).
The cases were confirmed Thursday by José Antonio Samra, medical specialist and pediatric clinical advisor HEU National Dengue Program. The three patients were being tested for dengue fever, which turned out negative. Subsequent testing for chikungunya proved to be positive. For more infectious disease news and information, visit and “like” the Infectious Disease News Facebook page.
This follows government statements earlier in the week that chikungunya was not in the country.
Chikungunya fever is a disease transmitted by the mosquito Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus, the latter also known as the Asian tiger mosquito. WHO suggests that this disease can cause fever and severe joint pain, and muscle pain, headache, nausea, fatigue and rash.
The WHO says the disease shares some clinical signs of dengue and can be misdiagnosed in areas where dengue is common. Also notes that generally the illness lasts five to seven days and rarely endangers the patient’s life.The WHO says the disease has no specific treatment, but can be used analgesics and NSAIDs (natural) to reduce pain and swelling (swelling), and warns that aspirin should be avoided.
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