When someone enters the hospital with the chikungunya virus, there's no mistaking it.
"The patients came here with fever and also with pain in their joints," says Dr. Susana Lloveras, an infectious disease physician at Hospital Muñiz in Buenos Aires, Argentina, one of several South American countries where the mosquito-borne virus has surged in 2023. The joints in their hands and feet commonly ache along with their knees. The pain can get so bad that some have difficulty walking or even holding a cup of coffee.
"It affects the quality of life," says Lloveras. "You are well. And suddenly, you can't move, you need another person help you to do the common task of every day."
