The new variant of Chikungunya identified at the National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune, a few days ago, is causing havoc. It is not only leading to faster spread but the period of illness and severity have increased. The hospitals at Nagpur are full with the patients suffering from dengue and chikungunya, both mosquito-borne viral illness caused by the chikungunya virus (CHIKV), primarily transmitted by Aedes mosquitoes. If one takes a look at the statistics of both the diseases, one realises that Nagpur city recorded 2,873 patients of dengue since January till today while 3,556 were of chikungunya. Dengue is troubling the city since January this year but chikungunya entered Nagpur since June, 2024 when 82 persons were detected with the infection. According to experts, not all cases of this dreaded disease have found their way into the records. Dr Deepak Jeswani, Critical Care Specialist, confirmed the development. Dr Jeswani said, “We are witnessing a lot of cases in our hospital too.

 

The severity of the disease is more. People are suffering from the joint pain like the ones suffer when they have arthritis. There are some cases where the disease is troubling to the extent that they are experiencing heart ailment. The illness is a prolonged one. In many cases the platecount has gone down even to 43,000. Chikungunya is leading to make people suffer from Encephalitis. It is a serious condition that causes the brain to swell due to inflammation.” Real Time Polymerase Chain Reaction (RTPCR) test is giving faster results.

 

This test helps doctors noticing chikungunya faster than any other tests. Dr Yagnesh Thakar, noted Microbiologist said, “In IgM or in other tests, patient may not be detected on the first day. RTPCR works faster and makes the job of doctors easy. As far as blackening of nose is concerned, there is nothing unusual. The blood supply is very good at the tip of the nose so its reaction to virus at that place is severe.” Dr P P Joshi, Executive Director of All India Insitute of Medical Sciences confirmed that this year chikungunya is haunting unlike in the past. “People are having a lot of problems. People are having pain in their joints prolonging for more than a month. The major culprit is the mosquito that troubles human being during daytime,” said Dr Joshi.