More ‘chikungunya’ patients admitted to Mt Prov hospitals

BONTOC, Mountain Province -- More than 100 people are suspected of being afflicted with mosquito-borne disease chikungunya in Mt. Province, the provincial health office said Monday.

Lily Ann Safilo of the Diseases Surveillance Unit of the local office of the Department of Health, said that three individuals have been tested positive for chikungunya, which has symptoms that are similar with dengue.

Safilo said at least 50 more possible chikungunya patients are being closely monitored by the provincial health department.

Meanwhile, provincial health officer Nenita Lizardo said 130 people, who are also showing symtoms of chikungunya, are now confined at the Bontoc General Hospital. The state-run hospital's bed capacity is only 100.

Safilo said two of the chikungunya-positive are residents of Paracelis town and the third is from Bontoc, the province's capital.

She added that the two towns, as well as the municipality of Bauko, also has the highest number of dengue cases recorded in the province from January to July.

Chikungunya fever is transmitted to humans by aedesaegypty mosquitoes, the same specie that spreads dengue fever. Its symptoms are also similar with dengue, including high fever, swelling of joints, stiffness of joints, muscle pain, headache, fatigue, nausea, vomitting and rash.