Ever Heard of Chikungunya?

Today we got up early and took the long three hour trek to the city to see another specialist for my return Missionary. We didn't think it would be an all day thing but by the time we saw the Dr. and got labs done, ran a few errand and did the 3 hour drive return trip, it was quite the day.

After reviewing her history, the Dr. asked if we had ever heard of Chikunguanya. We obviously said "No" and she proceeded to tell us that the Specialists that teach about parasites often put this illness on tests because most people think it is a "made up" illness because of the name.

Wiki has this to say on the matter: "Chikungunya (in the Makonde language "that which bends up") virus (CHIKV) is an insect-borne virus, of the genus Alphavirus, that is transmitted to humans by virus-carrying Aedes mosquitoes.[1] There have been recent breakouts of CHIKV associated with severe illness. CHIKV causes an illness with symptoms similar to dengue fever. CHIKV manifests itself with an acute febrile phase of the illness lasting only two to five days, followed by a prolonged arthralgic disease that affects the joints of the extremities. The pain associated with CHIKV infection of the joints persists for weeks or months, or in some cases years.[2][3]"

So, they sent us to the lab. Now after a horrific amount of waiting, a cute lab assistant about 18 that looked as if he couldn't yet shave comes out and says my daughters name in an excited manner. We are very thrilled about this as the wait was very long. We start to rise in anticipation of her getting her labs when he tells us, "I just wanted to tell you that we have about figured out how to take your labs and will call you in a minute."

My daughter and I looked at each other and laughed because it took about 40 minutes for the Dr. to write the order because she had to look up how and what tests to order. :-) The wait had been about 40 minutes at the lab. All in all, we were at the hospital for over 3 hours.

After another 15 minute wait, we entered and there was still some discussion on what color vials to use to collect the samples needed for the CDC and which vials needed to be on ice and how many vials were needed to run all the tests that were ordered.

In the end, they took 15 vials of blood. 2 samples ended up going to the CDC for Chikungunya and Dengue Fever. Neither illness is treatable as both are viruses but they are both tracked by the CDC so if she has them, they can track how the virus is spreading as it has moved through several countries.

So, if it is positive, which the Dr. believes it will be, then she will just have to live with it. It will be nice to be able to tell the Knee specialist on our follow up so that he will know in the future of symptoms and future situations. It will also be helpful to share with those who oversee the mission she was serving so they can be aware of future situation.

If she has Dengue fever, they say there are 4 types. If you get one, you don't have many symptoms. If you get a second, third or fourth on top, you can hemorrhage. So, they want her to know if she had it so she can be aware when traveling in the future.

They are testing her for a myriad of other things which I believe she also has dealing with the food, water and lack of sanitation. We are grateful however that she is in a place where they know of such things as Chikungunya. How many Dr.'s would know of that?

We won't know on most of the results for two weeks but the CDC (Center for Disease Control) information won't be back for a few months.

She is freezing but so glad to be in the good ol' USA! Makes you grateful doesn't it?