You may or may not have heard of the Chikungunya virus, but it is currently running rampant in Central America and is on its way to North America.  At least half of the families we serve have already been afflicted with it and the rest are in a high risk of suffering from it.  Even some of our missionaries have begun to be affected by it.  So what is it?  You can get the full description of how it affects its victims at the CDC Website, but rest assured it isn’t a deadly virus.

Because it is a virus, the only way to prevent its spread is to kill off where it comes from: mosquitos.  Unfortunately, Guatemala doesn’t have a frost and being “The Land of Perpetual Spring,” there are plenty of mosquitos around, especially now during the rainy season where there are plenty of places for mosquitos to breed.

Affected persons get the virus through mosquito bites.  Initial symptoms start with slight pains, maybe a headache, and stomach issues for a day or so that clear up.  Then, after the virus has time to incubate for a few days, it strikes its victim with severe bone and joint pain and a high fever.  The symptoms are treated with bed rest and acetaminophen.  We have witnessed that after about 5 days of bedrest, affected persons begin to feel better enough and stir crazy after being bedridden for almost a whole week that they are able to move around a bit.  The severity of the virus’ symptoms vary by person, but it is said that you can still suffer from symptoms up to two years later!  We have also witnessed that the older an affected person is, the longer it takes for them to recover completely.  Children don’t seem to have any issues about a week after recovering from the fevers while adults seem to have lingering pain for up to a month and the elderly have difficulty shaking the pain in their joints.

Please join us in praying for the passing of this virus as it has already affected hundreds of thousands in Guatemala alone.  We continue to pray for the people of Guatemala to be strengthened physically to resist this virus and for the availability of acetaminophen for those affected.

In this graph you can see the increase in cases over the past year.