Filipina migrant worker falls ill with chikungunya fever

Taipei--A Filipina migrant worker in Tainan has been confirmed to have contracted chikungunya fever, a mosquito-borne disease with symptoms similar to dengue fever, health officials in the southern Taiwan city said Wednesday.

The officials said the woman returned to her home country on June 8 and returned on June 23.

Because she was detected to have fever at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport screening station, her samples were sent to the health authorities who confirmed that she had contracted chikungunya fever.

It was the first imported case of the disease in Tainan, and the sixth case in Taiwan this year.

Symptoms of chikungunya fever are similar to those of dengue fever, but the difference between it and dengue fever or other mosquito-borne diseases is that some patients develop fatigue that can last for weeks, and leave others with joints so painful that they cannot move for months.

After being bitten by a mosquito carrying the virus, the incubation period is between two and 12 days, and patients develop symptoms of sudden onset of fever, muscle and joint pain, headache, nausea and fatigue. Around half of the patients also develop rashes.

The symptoms will continue for between three and seven days. It is rarely lethal, and most patients recover within a week.

Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel