A number of labs are offering Chikungunya testing and an alarming number of patients who report classic symptoms of fever, body pains and rash are having their tests come back negative.
This is a waste of money to the patient.
In the case of dengue testing, which is done by serology for IgG and IgM levels in the blood, doctors and labs are reliably informed that it can take 72 hours after the onset of fever for the test to show positive.
The same test done for ChikV is usually positive a week after the onset of fever.
This information is available on the US-based Centers for Disease Control Web site under the heading of "Testing for ChikV." There are more expensive tests which can be done to determine ChikV sooner, namely viral cultures and Viral RNA, but the equipment that allows for this testing is costly and is not available to the public in T&T.
One may argue that testing for ChikV is not essential. Doctors can make a diagnosis by exclusion. This means ruling out the life-threatening dengue virus with a blood test taken at the appropriate time. After this the classical symptoms of the virus can reliably lead to a diagnosis.
I call on the public health authorities to issue some clear guidelines to doctors, labs and the public regarding testing for ChikV to prevent the ill-informed public from wasting substantial amounts of money.
Dr N A Ramnarine