Patients flock to Chittoor hospital for chikungunia drug

[Susie]

Patients flock to Chittoor hospital for chikungunia drug

http://www.newindpress.com/NewsItems...adesh&Topic=0&

Tuesday April 25 2006 12:33 IST
CHITTOOR: The government hospital here was flooded on Monday with chikungunia patients. Bird flu leaves the patient high with fever and unbearable pains in joints and muscles.

Though health department officials claim that the number of people suffering from the disease is on the decline, the situation at the hospital tells a different story. On an average, 800 chikungunia patients are visiting the hospital every day for receiving medication. Some patients, who are unable to stand due to severe pain in the knees, express their pain and anguish with tears in their eyes.

Some people complain that medicines are not available at the Primary Health Centres (PHCs) in their villages and they are forced to come all the way to the government hospital here.

[DB]

Re: Patients flock to Chittoor hospital for chikungunia drug

There is NO cure for Chikungunya at this time.

Most likely any such claims are baseless but maybe we should not look at them as being a negative.

For example, if the government says they have a cure, which they do not, maybe the residents will flock to them and you will be able to get a more accurate number of those who are infected, thereby you might be able to find out if the epidemic is falling.

In India a lot of people go to private doctors so we don't really know how many cases of chikungunya or Bird Flu there really are.

[emmysue]

Re: Patients flock to Chittoor hospital for chikungunia drug

http://www.flutrackers.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3781

Maybe this is what the hospitals are giving out? I remember that I found that post interesting, because of the connection with the red blood cells and with auto-immune symptoms. (Thrombocytopenia seems like a common link between many of the emerging illnesses, including h5n1)

How does it work?

This medicine contains the active ingredient chloroquine, which is an antimalarial medicine, though it also has uses in treating the auto-immune diseases rheumatoid arthritis and lupus erythematosus.

Malaria is a potentially fatal disease caused by various types of parasites known as Plasmodium. Plasmodium are carried by mosquitoes and injected into the bloodstream during a bite from an infected mosquito. Once inside the blood the parasites travel to the liver, where they multiply. The parasites are then released back into the bloodstream where they invade the red blood cells and multiply again. An actual attack of malaria develops when the red blood cells burst, releasing a mass of parasites into the bloodstream. The attacks do not begin until a sufficient number of blood cells have been infected with parasites.

Chloroquine works by attacking the parasites once they have entered the red blood cells. It kills the parasites and prevents them from multiplying further.