Chikunkunyar

Chikunkunyar is the name of a mosquito borne virus that has made its way up from Malaysia into Thailand.

It was until recently only in the four southernmost provinces, Yala, Naratiwat, Pattani and Sonhkhla

but according to Thai Television news is now to be found in ten provinces in the South including

Phuket.

The following has been copied and pasted from the new Wolfram alpha which incidentally is very good.

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][citation needed]}, there have been recent outbreaks of CHIKV associated with severe morbidity. CHIKV causes an illness with symptoms similar to dengue fever. CHIKV manifests itself with an acute febrile phase of the illness lasts 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.^[2][3]

According to my ex wife who lives in Songkhla it it is much worse than Dengue, the pain is severe and can last for months and your skin goes very dark.

It is carried by the same type of daytime biting Mosquito that carries Dengue ( if you have got very good eyes or a magnifying glass you can see black and white stripes on the body of the Mosquito before you kill it)

Probably best to wear suitable protective clothing when you go out the house, I recommend long thick trousers tucked into a stout pair of Wellington boots, a long Gabardine raincoat, a shirt buttoned at the neck and most important a good Balaclava and a pair of Sunglasses. You are then 99.9% safe from being bitten and you are free to enjoy the delights of Phuket.