Kolkata: Temperature has started sliding down but the number of patients getting affected with chikungunya in the city and around is on the rise. Many cases have been reported from various parts in South Kolkata.
Doctors in Kolkata said that Chikungunya has been affecting vital organs like the kidney and the brain, which is unusual. Complications like kidney injury and chikungunya encephalitis have been observed in many patients suffering from the mosquito-borne disease. After dengue and malaria, Chikungunya is now triggering fear among the people. “I have come across several patients this season who have been affected with Chikungunya. They were suffering from fever, joint pain. It might not be as fatal as dengue but the patients were getting weak after being affected with Chikungunya,” said a senior doctor in Kolkata. Joint pain is one of the most formidable ramifications of this disease. The complications, involving various organs, were now being detected frequently, doctors pointed out.
There has been a late chikungunya surge since late October. Diagnostic labs also confirmed a higher number of chikungunya cases this year. Both dengue and chikungunya are caused by the bite of an infected Aedes Aegypti mosquito, dengue treatment poses more challenges. Chikungunya can have more long-term effects while dengue is more fatal, doctors said.