MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Uruguayan authorities tackle chikungunya

“It can be painful at the joint level but [chikungunya] usually is not a serious disease,” Rando said

Uruguay's Health Minister Karina Rando and Undersecretary José Luis Satdjián Saturday visited Paysandú, where seven cases of chikungunya were confirmed in patients who had no travel history.

“There is a national circulation of the virus since the transmitting mosquito is in the whole country, so the risk is general,” Satdjián told reporters after a meeting with local authorities.

“It is important that the population is aware of the situation of autochthonous circulation of the virus and that measures are taken to prevent the further spread of the disease,” Rando noted.

There are 22 cases of chikungunya nationwide: 15 “imported” ones plus the seven autochthonous detections in Paysandú, it was reported.

”The first viral circulation detected is here (in Paysandú), which does not mean that there are no cases elsewhere. Epidemiological surveillance is being carried out permanently to see if it appears in other places,“ Rando went on.

She also explained that chikungunya ”is a disease that has no mortality, very little mortality, and few sequelae.“

”It can be painful at the joint level but usually it is not a serious disease,“ she added.

”It does cause fever, almost always without anything else, or fever with joint pain, sometimes accompanied by muscle pain and headache (behind the eyes), and it can cause skin rash,” she also pointed out.

Uruguayan authorities are waiting for the lab test results to determine whether or not the eight other suspected chikungunya cases are positive. In the meantime, calls for preventive measures are mounting nationwide, seeking to destroy all reservoirs where the aedes aegypti mosquito could nest and breed, which are mainly those with accumulated water. Hence, Satdjián's recommendations against keeping water in flower pots for too long.