Chikungunya is a mosquito born disease, caused by a virus transported by "Aedes Aegypti" mosquito.
The name comes from the word "kungunyala" in Makonde language, which means "that which bends up", because the joint pains in the disease are so intense that the patient literally bends in agony.
The onset of symptoms occurs generally within 4 to 12 days of the infected mosquito bite. Although the fever is not known to last for more than 5 days, joint pains remain for a longer period and debility even more so.
A young patient with Chikungunya can take up to one month to recover from the attack while an elderly patient can even take more than 2 months to fully recover from the onslaught of the disease.
In spite of the disease being around for more than 50 years, there is no definite treatment available in Conventional Medicine for Chikungunya.
