Joel Peralta has been feeling sick since returning from a vacation to his home in the Dominican Republic during the All-Star break and the Rays reliever believes he contracted the chikungunya virus while there.
What’s the chikungunya virus? I had no idea, so I looked it up via the world’s most trusted source for everything, Wikipedia:
Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) is an arthropod-borne virus, of the genus Alphavirus, that is transmitted to humans by virus-carrying Aedes mosquitoes. CHIKV is transmitted similarly to dengue fever and causes an illness with an acute febrile phase lasting two to five days, followed by a longer period of joint pains in the extremities; this pain may persist for years in some cases.
Apparently there’s been an outbreak in the Dominican Republic recently, as Braves pitcher Ervin Santana has been tweeting about several of his family members being among the thousands of people effected. Oh, and “currently there is no specific treatment.” Woof.
Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports that the Rays may place Peralta on the disabled list while he recovers.