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Toronto Sun
5 days ago
- Health
- Toronto Sun
Chikungunya virus: What you need to know
An Aedes aegypti mosquito, the transmitter of dengue, Zika and chikungunya, is seen through a microscope Photo by Luis ROBAYO / AFP/File Reviews and recommendations are unbiased and products are independently selected. Postmedia may earn an affiliate commission from purchases made through links on this page. BBEIJING — Cases of chikungunya fever are rising in southern China, prompting local authorities to take measures to curb its spread. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account Here is what you need to know about the disease: Chikungunya is caused by a virus that can be passed to humans by infected mosquitoes, with most cases occurring in Africa, Asia and the Americas. Symptoms include fever and joint pain, which may persist for some time but are rarely fatal. Because the symptoms of chikungunya resemble other mosquito-borne diseases like dengue and Zika, it can sometimes be hard to determine the extent of an outbreak. Two vaccines for chikungunya have been approved in some countries but are not yet widely used. Infected people are typically given medicines like paracetamol to ease their symptoms. How serious is China's outbreak? More than 7,700 people in the southern province of Guangdong have been infected in recent weeks, according to an article by the China Association for Science and Technology that was widely carried by state media. Your noon-hour look at what's happening in Toronto and beyond. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Most cases have occurred in the industrial centre of Foshan, where 2,770 people fell ill between July 27 and August 2, the provincial disease control office said on Sunday. Dozens of infections have also been detected in neighbouring Guangzhou, while semiautonomous Hong Kong reported its first case on Saturday. Chief expert Kang Min said 'the rapid rise of the epidemic has been preliminarily curbed' in Guangdong, according to a statement from the province's disease control office. But Kang warned that officials still faced 'complex and severe challenges' due to the high risk of imported cases in the international trade hub as well as rain and typhoons that help mosquitoes to thrive. What are authorities doing? Top officials in Guangdong agreed at a meeting on Saturday to 'go all out to win the… war of annihilation against the epidemic', according to an official statement. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. They stressed the need to 'mobilise the public' to eliminate the conditions in which mosquitoes breed, for example, by removing pots and cans, unblocking ditches and clearing pools of stagnant water. Footage by state news agency Xinhua showed doctors at a hospital in Foshan's Shunde district tending to a ward of chikungunya patients lying on beds surrounded by mosquito nets. Other interventions seemed more dramatic. The New York Times reported that some infected people in Foshan were 'given no choice' but to go to hospital, while others had workers enter their homes without consent in search of stagnant water. State media and local governments have published images of workers in helmets and face masks spraying insecticide in parks, gardens and overgrown buildings, where mosquitoes can linger. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Law enforcement officers have threatened fines of up to 1,000 yuan ($140) for businesses that do not take adequate steps to prevent mosquitoes from breeding, according to the provincial disease control office. And one subdistrict in Foshan cut power to the homes of some residents who failed to comply with disease controls, according to an online statement from a local government committee. Should people be worried? The United States has issued a travel advisory urging increased caution when going to affected areas in China. Some of China's measures evoke its pandemic strategy, when Beijing wielded city-wide lockdowns, lengthy quarantines and travel bans to curb the spread of COVID-19. But comparisons to the pandemic are overblown. Unlike COVID, chikungunya is caused by a known pathogen, is not transmitted via human contact and very rarely proves fatal. Chinese authorities have stressed that the disease is 'preventable, controllable and treatable' and the World Health Organization has not issued any special guidance on China's outbreak. For more health news and content around diseases, conditions, wellness, healthy living, drugs, treatments and more, head to – a member of the Postmedia Network. Columnists Sunshine Girls World Sunshine Girls Opinion
Courier-Mail
5 days ago
- Health
- Courier-Mail
Thousands infected in China as mosquito-borne virus sparks pandemic fears
Don't miss out on the headlines from Health. Followed categories will be added to My News. Thousands of people have been infected with a painful mosquito-borne virus in China, prompting a response not seen since Covid — including mass quarantines even though the virus is not spread by humans. The chikungunya virus has rapidly spread to about 8,000 patients in just four weeks, mainly across China's Guangdong province to the south, with the city of Foshan hit the hardest, according to the New York Times. But Hong Kong's first case was confirmed on Monday, and the increasingly worrisome situation is stoking fears of a potential pandemic. Infected residents are being sent to 'quarantine wards' in hospitals where they're placed in beds covered by mosquito nets. They have to then remain there for a week, unless they test negative beforehand. Get all the latest news happening around the world as it happens — download the app direct to your phone. A worker sprays insecticide Foshan, China. Photo by VCG/VCG via Getty Images A drone sprays in Guangzhou. Photo by Chen Chuhong/China News Service/VCG via Getty Images Nearby cities at one point also forced people entering from Foshan to quarantine themselves for 14 days but have since lifted that order. The drastic measures show just how jittery Chinese officials are about the potential for another major health crisis, considering Chikungunya is typically not deadly and not spread between humans but is transmitted by the bites of infected Aedes mosquitoes. In a massive effort to curb its further spread, masked Chinese soldiers have been dousing public spaces with insecticide, and authorities have begun releasing 'elephant mosquitoes' whose larvae devour the smaller, virus-carrying mosquitoes. Thousands of mosquito-eating fish also have been released into Foshan's public ponds. Officials have urged those showing any symptoms to be tested for the virus, and residents have been ordered to remove stagnant water, where the mosquitoes breed, from their homes — and threatened with fines up to $1,400 if they refuse to comply, according to the BBC. This isn't just a Chinese problem – the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control reported in July that 240,000 people had been infected while 90 people had died. Photo by Luis ROBAYO / AFP At least five homes have had their electricity cut for not co-operating, the Times reported. Authorities are even using drones to detect potential hot spots of stagnant water. There is no known cure for the virus, which has symptoms that can be agonising and include fever, joint pain, headache, muscle pain, swelling and rash, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Officials in China said 95 per cent of the patients hospitalised with the virus have been discharged within seven days, but the infection rate has the region on high alert with 3,000 cases reported in area in just the past week alone, according to the BBC. Mosquitoes swarm plane Video Player is loading. Play Video This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. 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This modal can be closed by pressing the Escape key or activating the close button. 00:18 SUBSCRIBER ONLY Mosquitoes swarm plane and...... more more scratching their skin Passengers seen swatting mozzies ... more The swift response by the Chinese government has its citizens online comparing the outbreak to the COVID-19 pandemic, which exploded in 2020 and killed millions of people. US officials claim the coronavirus was accidentally released from a Chinese laboratory. China imposed some of the strictest restrictions in the world at the time, including major lockdowns, forced testing and social-distancing rules. In Guangdong, authorities have vowed to take 'decisive and forceful measures' to halt the spread of chikungunya, which is not commonly found as far north as in China. Ren Chao, a professor at the University of Hong Kong studying climate change's impact on Chikungunya, told the paper that infected mosquitoes 'can spread and reproduce in even the smallest pool of water, like a Coke bottle cap.' The efforts are widespread around the country. Photo by VCG/VCG via Getty Images The CDC on Friday issued a Level 2 travel notice for those going to China as the disease continues to spread. Level 2, which tells travellers to 'practice enhanced precautions,' is on a warning scale of four, with four urging people to 'avoid all travel' to the region. The agency has urged Americans travelling there to get vaccinated for chikungunya. There are two vaccines approved for use against it in the US. The current surge began in early 2025, with major outbreaks in the same Indian Ocean area. This story first appeared in the New York Post and was republished with permission. Originally published as Thousands infected in China as mosquito-borne virus sparks pandemic fears
