Chikungunya Fever

I was surfing the net for info on Chikungunya fever. I came across a review on Harshad's Site. I think he has written an excellent review and it is a must see for anyone wanting to know more about the disease.
Some excerpts from the review are

"The name has been derived from a Makonde word meaning that which bends up reference to some victims' inability to walk up right........
The history of Chikungunya outbreak in India dates back to 1824 whereas the virus was first isolated in 1963 from Kolkata. 4 The viral activity in humans have been observed till 1971......The present outbreak in India started during December 2005 where the country has so far experienced more than 11,00,000 (11 lakh) of Chikungunya infected cases which still continues. 6 The cases were first reported from Andhra Pradesh, one of the worst affected states. Subsequently reports were poured in from several districts of Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra , Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, and Tamil Nadu. Even Andaman experienced the first Chikungunya epidemic during June 2006. Presently the outbreak is underway in western parts of India specially Gujarat and Rajasthan. "

Essentialdrugs has a good article about the possible use of chloroquin in the treatment of arthralgia associated with Chikungunya.

Lastly a word about Chikungunya prevention. Its simple - 'avoid mosquito bites'. This is not something new for us Indians. Still I'd like to say again

• Eliminate stagnant water to avoid breeding of mosquitoes - avoid clogging of water pipes, cover all water tanks, get rid of outdoor containers retaining water like food cans and renew water in flower vases.

• Use insect repellants

• Use mosquito nets

• Wear long sleeve clothes of a light shade

• Apply 20 - 50 % DEET (N, N-diethyl-meta-toluamide)

• Apply 0.5% Permethrin spray on clothes

• If there are large collections of stagnant water in your neighborhood, inform the authorities (hopefully they will spray the area)