Bone Flu Definition, Reason, Symptoms, Treatment & Prevention

Bone flu is a term often used to describe Chikungunya disease. Here are the causes, symptoms, and treatment

Bone Flu 

Medical specialist	Internal disease
Symptom	Fever, joint pain, headache, myalgia, arthritis, conjunctivitis, nausea, vomiting, rash
risk factor	Living in tropical areas, traveling to outbreak areas, poor sanitation, over 65 years old, newborns, chronic diseases
How to diagnose	The complete interview, physical examination, complete blood count, serological examination, viral culture, molecular examination
Treatment	Get plenty of rest, drink enough, good nutrition
Drug	The non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug, paracetamol
Complications	Uveitis, myocarditis, hepatitis
When to see a doctor?	Joint pain, swelling and fever

Symptom

The symptoms felt by sufferers of bone flu can be similar to those of dengue. Generally, symptoms appear within 3–7 days after being bitten by a mosquito that infects it with the chikungunya virus.

Complaints that can be felt include:

• Acute fever, generally above 39 degrees Celsius
• Polyathralgia: joint pain is usually felt symmetrically on both sides of the body. This condition can be very disturbing sufferers. Arthralgia often affects small joints, such as the wrists, hands and ankles. The severe joint pain is what distinguishes bone flu from dengue
• Headache
• Muscle pain (myalgia)
• Joint pain (arthritis)
• Inflammation of the conjunctiva of the eye (conjunctivitis)
• Nausea and vomiting
• Redness (maculopapular rash)

Reason

Chikungunya or bone flu is caused by the chikungunya virus (CHIKV), which is an alphavirus from the  Togaviridae family. This virus can infect humans through mosquito bites.

Aedes mosquitoes, such as  Aedes aegypti and  Aedes albopictus, are the most common types of mosquitoes that transmit the chikungunya virus. This mosquito is also known to spread dengue fever and  DHF.

The Aedes mosquito can bite someone who is already infected with the chikungunya virus, then spreads the infection by biting healthy people so they get bone flu.

Risk Factors

Bone flu can happen to anyone. However, there are several risk factors that can increase the risk of developing this disease, namely:

• Live in a tropical country
• Travel to an outbreak area
• Living in an unsanitary environment or poor sanitation
• Newborn baby
• Age over 65 years
• History of chronic diseases such as high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease and weak immunity

Diagnosis

To determine the diagnosis of bone flu or chikungunya, anamnesis will generally be carried out, especially around the symptoms, and physical examination.

Some of the supporting examinations that may be examined are:

• General check-up 

Often the results will show decreased lymphocytes and platelets, as well as increased creatinine and liver function tests.

• serological examination

ELISA (enzyme-linked immunoassay ) examination was performed to assess antibodies to the chikungunya virus. IgM generally appears after 5–7 days of disease onset, and can continue to be detected for up to 3–6 months.

IgG generally appears after 6–10 days of disease onset, and can persist for several months.

• Viral culture

Generally, the virus can be found in the body within the first three days of illness.

• Molecular examination

Generally, RT-PCR examination is expected to detect chikungunya virus RNA within the first 7–8 days of illness.

Treatment

Some things that can be done during the healing period are:

• Get plenty of rest
• Nutritious nutritional intake
• Drink enough to avoid dehydration
• Protect yourself from mosquito bites during the first week of illness, to prevent the spreading the disease

Like most diseases caused by viruses, bone flu will heal by itself within 7-10 days. Therefore, no bone flu medicine is given with the aim of healing, or speeding up the healing period.

However, several types of drugs can be given by specialists in internal medicine to relieve the disturbing symptoms that are felt, including:

• The use of NSAIDs (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) can be given to relieve joint pain, if it is certain that the patient does not have dengue fever
• Taking paracetamol can help relieve pain and reduce fever

Prevention

Bone fever is spread by mosquitoes. That is why, the best prevention is to avoid mosquito bites.

The following methods can be applied to prevent mosquito bites:

• Using insect repellent containing DEET (N, N- Diethyl-meta-toluamide )
• Putting mosquito-repellent plants like lavender in or around the house
• Light up aromatherapy with lemon or eucalyptus oil to repel and prevent mosquitoes from roaming
• Using closed clothing when traveling outside the house such as pants and long sleeves
• Avoid wearing dark-colored clothing as mosquitoes prefer it
• Do not go to areas that are experiencing an outbreak
• Install mosquito nets over the bed
• Close all sources of puddles in the home environment
• Place flower pots or other containers that are not used upside down so that they do not become breeding grounds for mosquitoes
• Reducing activity in the afternoon and evening due to mosquito activity at that time

Complications

Bone flu is not life-threatening but can cause health complications, such as:

• Uveitis 

Uveitis is inflammation of the lining of the eye with symptoms of eye swelling, red eyes, pain, sensitivity to light, and blurred vision

• myocarditis 

Myocarditis is inflammation of the heart muscle (myocardium) with symptoms of chest pain, shortness of breath, fatigue, leg swelling, and irregular heartbeat

• Hepatitis 

Hepatitis is an inflammation of the liver caused by a viral infection, drinking habits, certain medications and autoimmune diseases. The typical symptom of hepatitis is yellowish skin

When to See a Doctor?

If there are symptoms of joint pain and severe muscle pain accompanied by fever, immediately consult a doctor.