`Chikungunya' spreads to Cirebon

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

A mysterious disease, locally known as chikungunya, has spread further in West Java, with more than 70 people in Cirebon regency infected since last week, local health officials said on Saturday.

At least 73 residents in Cirebon were suffering from the contagious disease, carried by Aedes albopictus mosquitoes, said Jarnadi Kusmayadi, a senior official with the city's health office.

He was quoted by Antara as saying the disease had attacked 66 people in the villages of Bojong Lor and Wetan, Klangenan subdistrict, and seven others in Sedong Kidul and Karangwuni villages, Sedong subdistrict.

According to Jarnadi, the disease was not the first to attack Cirebon, where it infected at least 50 residents at Sumber village in Sumber subdistrict last year.

However, he said the current outbreaks of chikungunya were categorized as an "extraordinary" occurrence, although it had yet to spread extensively in Cirebon.

He said the local administration had been taking measures to prevent the disease from spreading to other villages in Cirebon and neighboring towns.

The subdistrict administrations have provided medicine to chikungunya sufferers in their respective regions to try and stop the disease from spreading, Jarnadi said.

He acknowledged that chikungunya had quickly spread to a number of other villages, but could not say how many additional patients were infected as his office was still collecting data.

"A disease of this nature can quickly spread through mosquito bites and it is suspected to have been carried by urban people from Jakarta or others from outside Cirebon," Jarnadi said.

He said chikungunya was not a lethal disease but should the virus attack joints in the body, it could leave the sufferer unable to walk and cause pain for months.

Chikungunya was first detected last December in the West Java capital of Bandung and continued to spread in the regency this week.

The disease has affected more than 230 residents in the villages of Mandalamukti and Ciptagumati in Bandung.

According to data from the public health center in Cikalongwetan, the number of people affected by the disease has increased to 231, from 90 last December.

Local health officials gave vitamin B1 shots to unaffected villagers to try and stop the spread of the disease.

According to local doctor Sudradjat, Chikungunya first emerged three months ago after several people were bitten by Aedes albopictus mosquitoes.

He and other doctors said the sufferers usually came down with influenza and showed symptoms similar to those associated with dengue fever.

The sufferers also experienced debilitating pain in their bones, leaving them unable to walk, they added.

Several patients have said symptoms of the disease were at first similar to dengue fever, and after several days they could not walk.

However, after one week the sufferers recovered without any medication.

Head of the Bandung health office Nono Tjahyono said his office was studying chikungunya to determine what kind of disease it was in cooperation with Jakarta's Cipto Mangunkusumo general hospital.