Chikungunya

                                                        Chikungunya

                                  P.K. Ghatak, MD.

People in Tanzania who speak a derivative of Bantu language describe a febrile illness as “Bend over in pain” due to crushing bone pain. Chikungunya and Dengue have many similarities - in the clinical presentation, mode of transmission by infected Aedes mosquito bite, about the virus (though they belong to a separate category), have a similar single stranded RNA strand, no effective antiviral agent is available, and no vaccine is made so far. An important difference between the two is that the majority of Chikungunya cases are benign and last only 3 to 5 days. Skin rashes are common, appear as red bumps all over the body, including palms and soles. Only a very few patients suffer from chronic ill joint and muscle pain in post acute phase. Post infection immunity lasts for life.

Chikungunya began in Tanzania, Africa in 1952, the virus mutated into 3 forms in Africa. Later, in 1963, the virus spread to Calcutta, India, and subsequently spread to other Asian countries. In 2013, the Asian variety appeared in the USA. Now in South American countries, they have a different mutated form. A large section of the population of the world is at a risk of contracting Chikungunya wherever Aedes mosquitoes are present.

Diagnosis of Chikungunya is by detecting the viral antigen and IgM and IgG antibodies.

A new vaccine, Ixchia, is approved on 11/11/23 in the USA for people travelling to endemic areas of the world.

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