By NewsDesk @bactiman63
Officials in the Kenge health zone, Kwango province in southwest Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) are reporting 227 suspected Chikungunya cases in recent weeks.
Health zone chief doctor, Dr Léon Makambu said, “We are suspecting Chikungunya, that’s our presumptive diagnosis. Since the 45th epidemiological week, that has already made 227 cases.
“We are looking, we have sent the samples to the INRB but we does not yet have the results. Every day at least, every day we have the cases. We are doing in the probabilistic, it is a provisional diagnosis for us because we have not identified the true cause from the parasitological point of view ”.
Chikungunya is a viral disease transmitted to humans by infected mosquitoes. It causes fever and severe joint pain, which is often debilitating. Other symptoms include muscle pain, headache, nausea, fatigue, and rash.
The disease shares some clinical signs with dengue and Zika, and can be misdiagnosed in areas where they are common. As there is no cure, treatment is focused on relieving the symptoms.
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