Authorities in Ho Chi Minh City are closely monitoring the Chikungunya epidemic in Cambodia after approximately 1,700 Cambodian citizens have come down with the disease.

As of early August, Chikungunya had spread to 15 provinces in Cambodia, including Tbong Khnum, Ta Kheo, and Kampot, which share the border with Vietnam, according to Dr. Le Hong Nga, an official from the Ho Chi Minh City Center for Disease Control (HCDC).

In Vietnam, the disease was discovered in 1975, Nga said, adding that there has been no specific treatment method or vaccine to prevent Chikungunya to date.

Chikungunya is a viral disease transmitted to humans by infected mosquitoes, according to the World Health Organization.

It causes fever and severe joint pain. Other symptoms include muscle pain, headache, nausea, fatigue, and a rash.

Chikungunya has similar clinical manifestations to dengue fever infection, which can easily lead to misdiagnosis, said Dr. Nga.

The disease is usually not fatal, but can last long and reduce the quality of patients’ lives.

Two special units in charge of monitoring the Chikungunya epidemic have been established at the Hospital for Tropical Diseases and Hung Vuong Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City.

Both units have not recorded any case of Chikungunya so far.

Dr. Nga believed that the risk of a Chikungunya outbreak is not high in the southern Vietnamese metropolis.

To prevent the disease, residents are advised to follow dengue fever prevention measures, including regularly cleaning up their house and workplaces to stop mosquitoes from reproducing.

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