Traditional herbal remedies harnessed to treat chikungunya in Antigua

By Michelle Nurse On Mar 31, 2015

Rash caused by Chikungunya (Photo via Caribbean Journal)

ST JOHN’S, Antigua, Tuesday March 31, 2015 – Last summer, 38-year-old Sira Berzas from Antigua and Barbuda was struck down with chikungunya, the mosquito-borne disease that has swept through the Caribbean infecting more than 800,000 people since it was first detected in the region in December 2013.

The debilitating virus, which originated in Africa and derives its name from a word meaning “to become contorted” in the Kimakonde language, is characterised by the abrupt onset of fever, deep joint and muscle pain, headache, nausea, fatigue and a rash.

“I was fine when I went to bed,” Berzas told the BBC, “but when I woke up in the morning and tried to get up my ankles hurt so much I couldn’t stand. It was very scary. After that I started getting different pains all over my body. Soon my hands were so swollen I couldn’t hold anything. I knew immediately it was chikungunya.”