What is Chikungunya?

Chikungunya is a viral fever spread by day-biting mosquitoes, famous for one thing above all: joint pain severe enough to bend people double - which is what its name means in the Kimakonde language of East Africa. Most patients recover fully in weeks; for some, the joint pain lingers for months.

The virus and its carrier

The chikungunya virus travels by Aedes mosquitoes - the same black-and-white striped, day-biting mosquitoes (Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus) that carry dengue and Zika. A mosquito picks up the virus biting an infected person and passes it on with its next bites. No person-to-person spread without the mosquito.

What the virus does

After an incubation of 2-12 days (typically 3-7), the illness hits abruptly: high fever and severe pain in multiple joints - wrists, ankles, fingers, knees - often with a rash, headache and exhaustion. The acute storm settles in 1-2 weeks. The joints, however, can complain for months afterward: a post-viral inflammatory arthritis that is the disease's real burden.

How serious is it?

Deaths are rare. The misery is not: acute chikungunya can be disabling for days, and chronic joint pain can shadow recovery. Newborns, adults over 65, and people with diabetes, heart disease or high blood pressure carry the higher risk for severe disease.

The treatment truth

There is no specific antiviral for chikungunya - treatment is supportive: rest, fluids, paracetamol, and later anti-inflammatory care for the joints under a doctor's eye. Prevention is mosquito control, and recovery is usually complete. This series covers each stage.

One-line summary

Chikungunya is an Aedes mosquito-borne viral fever marked by abrupt high fever and severe joint pain - no specific cure, usually full recovery, with joint pain that can linger for months.