The Health Bureau (SSM) announced in a statement on Friday that Macau had recorded two more imported cases of chikungunya*.
According to the statement, a 48-year-old male non-local worker living in Sio Cheong Building, 10 Beco do Gonçalo (江沙路里), and working at Block 4, Nova Park, Avenida de Kwong Tung (廣東大馬路), Taipa, visited the Philippines with his family from July 6 to 19. On July 24, he returned to Macau and developed fever and muscle pain, when he sought treatment at the private Kiang Wu Hospital.
On Friday, laboratory tests by the Public Health Laboratory confirmed the patient’s chikungunya infection. When the statement was issued on Friday, his condition was stable. His travel companions, housemates and colleagues showed no symptoms, the statement said.
Meanwhile, a 38-year-old male local resident living in Block 4, Lok Kuan Building, Avenida de Vale das Borboletas (蝴蝶谷大馬路), Coloane, working at Wynn Palace in Cotai, visited friends in Beijiao Town of Shunde District, Foshan City, Guangdong Province, on July 19-20. On the morning of July 24, he returned to Macau and developed pain in the joints of both lower limbs, followed by a fever in the evening; he then sought treatment on Friday at the Islands Emergency Station of the public Conde de São Januário Hospital Centre (CHCSJ) in Cotai, according to the statement.
On Friday, laboratory tests by the Public Health Laboratory confirmed the patient’s chikungunya infection. At the time of the statement, his condition was stable, and his travel companions showed no symptoms, the statement said.
The statement pointed out that, based on their travel history, symptoms’ onset timing, and laboratory results, the patients have been classified as imported chikungunya fever cases, marking the third and fourth such cases which have been disagnosed in Macau this year so far.
The statement noted that the bureau has dispatched teams to conduct precautionary mosquito control measures around the patients’ homes and main activity locations in Macau.
Moreover, the bureau continues to closely monitor the chikungunya fever situation in neighbouring regions, urging residents travelling to Southeast Asia or other endemic areas to take preventive measures against mosquito bites, the statement said.
For more information, please visit the Health Bureau (SSM) website https://www.ssm.gov.mo/csr, or call +853 28700800.
* Chikungunya is a viral disease transmitted to humans by infected mosquitoes. The name “chikungunya” derives from a word in the Kimakonde language (spoken in Tanzania and Mozambique), meaning “to become contorted”, referring to the severe joint pain and stiffness that characterise the infection. – DeepSeek
This undated imaged shows the symptoms of Chikungunya. – Photo courtesy of Sprint Medical
