Debilitating Bug

[MHM]

It starts out like dengue (I had this 2 years ago) - sweats, fever, severe bone & muscle pain. Then it moderates into dreamy uneasiness, extreme lethargy, permanent tiredness, stressy uneasiness. Many people in Kanchanaburi report similar symptoms but a bewildering range of diagnoses and treatments. (Virus, antibiotics of course, water & paracetemol). My symptoms are now easing towards 12 days.

Anyone know what it is? I've not sought medical advice (see above, seems like a waste of time). I suspect mild dengue flashbacks but I can see no record of this on the medical websites.

[chiang mai]

It sounds like the mossie borne ailment known in my neck of the woods as Chimichunga (sp) - (a cross between a Mexican dish and a mosquito virus). Nasty by all accounts, from friends who have been bitten, silly of you though not to get medical advice however, there is an epidemic of the disease currently in the South and it can kil.

[SeanMoran]

It sounds like the mossie borne ailment known in my neck of the woods as Chimichunga (sp) - (a cross between a Mexican dish and a mosquito virus). Nasty by all accounts, from friends who have been bitten, silly of you though not to get medical advice however, there is an epidemic of the disease currently in the South and it can kil.

How long does it last? I've had it for a few weeks now, and even went to the hospital (two hospitals actually) to get some sort of cyst cut out of my back, and the approval of the antibiotics I'd been prescribed by an intelligent pharamacist, and after all this time, I still can hardly walk down the street or even sit here and type because my arms hurt and I feel dizzy all the frikken time!

How long does this thing last?

[FBN]

Symptoms associated with Chronic Fatigue Syndrom can remain for a very long time in certain individuals after Dengue and there is not much to be done about that from a drug treatment angle.

It would also be worth while to be checked out for Epstein Barr virus (Glandular Fever) which can give recurrent fevers and lead to similar episodes of extreme fatigue, depression etc.

If you search under "Chronic Viral Infections" you may find a syndrome complex that fits and may narrow down the search to the final diagnosis but, because all symptoms are so similar and blood tests far from specific or reliable, it remains a very difficult diagnostic problem.

Having said that, even if a final diagnosis is made, specific cures simply don't exist and management is mostly symptomatic. Healthy diet, antioxidants and other adjuvant therapies may help.

Just please don't fall victim to the colloidal silver or other dangerous snake oil cure-alls.

[chiang mai]

It sounds like the mossie borne ailment known in my neck of the woods as Chimichunga (sp) - (a cross between a Mexican dish and a mosquito virus). Nasty by all accounts, from friends who have been bitten, silly of you though not to get medical advice however, there is an epidemic of the disease currently in the South and it can kil.

How long does it last? I've had it for a few weeks now, and even went to the hospital (two hospitals actually) to get some sort of cyst cut out of my back, and the approval of the antibiotics I'd been prescribed by an intelligent pharamacist, and after all this time, I still can hardly walk down the street or even sit here and type because my arms hurt and I feel dizzy all the frikken time!

How long does this thing last?

I'm sorry that I don't know the correct phonetic interpretation of the disease in question, chimichunga is the way my friends and I have joked about it to date, perhaps others local posters can provide a more accurate verbal description. Two of our group have contracted the disease, both from running the hash in Phuket - don't let that fact stop anyone from running a has however!.

The symptoms you described are identical to the ailments our friends have experienced, the whole thing lasted several weeks before finally going away, one described it as the disease from hel_l and was unwell for around two months afterwards. Sorry! Perhaps if you google the subject you will see that has been and epidemic of this disease in the South during the second and third quarter of last year, perhaps have more information you can use.

[Riley'sLife]

Wife and I both contracted Chikungunya last year. There is no cure, it lasts for several weeks initially and will also return periodically perhaps for the rest of our years. It can return years later again in a much less virulent form however resulting mainly in joint pain. We have both just had symptoms again within the last couple of weeks. Not pleasant!

You need a blood test to determine if antibodies are present which will confirm the diagnosis or otherwise. Obviously antibiotics are useless as it is a virus. Nothing to do other than wait for your body's own defenses to deal with it. Healthy eating and drinking water copiously and plenty of rest should help your body's defenses. Patience is essential as it will get better then come back a week or two later but much worse. I wasn't aware that it can be fatal however. I live part of the year in the South where it was at epidemic level about a year ago and most of my friend and all of my Thai in-laws and extended family were affected. It is mosquito borne, by the tiger mosquito which is the one with stripey legs and is out mainly in the daytime It does affect people differently, whereas some are in agony with the joint pain, others have very mild symptoms, but it seems to make everyone very drowsy. It is similar to Dengue Fever in some respects. It's not contagious, but can spread easily by mosquito bites from person to person. If you have it, try to limit contact with others unless you have applied a mosquito repellant to your exposed skin.

Hope you feel better soon.

[chiang mai]

Ahhh, Chikungunya, many thanks.

[MHM]

Thanks everyone. Seems to fit the bill and, as suspected, no treatment beyond living with it.

[Sheryl]

Wife and I both contracted Chikungunya last year. There is no cure, it lasts for several weeks initially and will also return periodically perhaps for the rest of our years. It can return years later again in a much less virulent form however resulting mainly in joint pain. We have both just had symptoms again within the last couple of weeks. Not pleasant!

You need a blood test to determine if antibodies are present which will confirm the diagnosis or otherwise. Obviously antibiotics are useless as it is a virus. Nothing to do other than wait for your body's own defenses to deal with it. Healthy eating and drinking water copiously and plenty of rest should help your body's defenses. Patience is essential as it will get better then come back a week or two later but much worse. I wasn't aware that it can be fatal however. I live part of the year in the South where it was at epidemic level about a year ago and most of my friend and all of my Thai in-laws and extended family were affected. It is mosquito borne, by the tiger mosquito which is the one with stripey legs and is out mainly in the daytime It does affect people differently, whereas some are in agony with the joint pain, others have very mild symptoms, but it seems to make everyone very drowsy. It is similar to Dengue Fever in some respects. It's not contagious, but can spread easily by mosquito bites from person to person. If you have it, try to limit contact with others unless you have applied a mosquito repellant to your exposed skin.

Hope you feel better soon.

So far as is known, Chikungunya does not recur periodically. In case of an illness with fever which does show that sort of periodic recurrence I would suspect vivax malaria.

What does happen, though, is that the joint and muscle pain associated with Chikungunya (which can be severe) continue for months or even a year or more after the acute illness is over, especially in older people. It does however eventually resolve.

Chikungunya has long endemic in Thailand, the viruswas first isolated here in the early 1960's. It is likewise endemic in othere SE Asian countries, India and parts of Africa. Every 7-8 years epidemics of it sweep through SE Asia and one is in progress now especially in the south of Thailand. http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/content/outbre...unya-fever.aspx

It is often misdiagnosed as dengue. Doesn't make much difference for the patient in that prevention and treatment for both are the same.

Unlike dengue there are no hemorraghuic complications and the disease is almost never fatal. Altho, like dengue, sufferers may feel like they'd like to die!

http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvbid/Chikunguny...sTreatment.html

[samuibeachcomber]

plenty of rest,good diet,plenty of fluids and up the vitamin C dosage to 6000mg per day which will help strengthen the immune system to fight the symptoms/causes etc.

[SeanMoran]

Thank you to all for this information. I've apparently had the Australian Ross River Virus for the past three years and only just started to get over it in December. It's similar to this Chikungunya and Dengue in being mosquito-borne, with similar symptoms. I've wondered whether this new thing could have been some recurrence of the RRV, or swine-flu, or something related to the lump I just had cut out of my back, or who knows what?

This Chickungunya sounds like it, and I was getting bitten a lot by daytime mosquitoes when first back here in Thailand. I'm located in Rayong, which is quite a long way from down south, but the explanations on Chikungunya seem to fit with the symptoms I've been getting for a few weeks, and it's somewhat of a relief to hear that it doesn't last forever.

Thanks for the explanation.