chikungunya fever

chikungunya fever, viral disease transmitted to humans by infected mosquitoes that is characterized by fever, headache, rash, and severe joint and muscle pain. The name chikungunya, which means “that which bends up,” is derived from the Kimakonde language of the Makonde people. This African people lives on the eastern border between Mozambique and Tanzania, where chikungunya virus was first detected in an epidemic that occurred in 1952–53. The disease was given its name because severe musculoskeletal pain caused affected persons to walk in a stooped posture.

Transmission and symptoms

The fever is caused by chikungunya virus, which is carried by humans and transmitted between humans by mosquitoes. Wild primates such as monkeys are suspected of serving as natural reservoirs for the virus in Africa. Outbreaks of the illness historically were limited to Africa and India, where Aedes aegypti, the original mosquito vector described for chikungunya virus, thrived. However, viral mutation, climate change, and human travel and migration have caused shifts in the geographic occurrence of chikungunya fever. Mutations in the virus have enabled it to infect a second vector, Aedes albopictus, which is native to Asia but today is considered an invasive species in places with warm, marshlike environments, including certain areas in Australia, on islands in the Indian Ocean, in the southeastern United States, and in Europe. Infected humans traveling from regions where the virus is endemic to regions where A. albopictus is invasive have played a significant role in distributing the disease to previously unaffected parts of the world. Outbreaks of chikungunya fever typically occur following a period of heavy rain, since the resulting pools of water that form provide rich breeding sites for Aedes mosquitoes.

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Chikungunya fever is debilitating and in certain individuals can be life-threatening. Onset of symptoms typically occurs within 3–7 days of being bitten by an infected mosquito, although some persons may not show signs of illness for up to 12 days. The symptoms of the disease resemble those of dengue, with acute illness characterized by sudden fever, headache, chills, nausea, vomiting, severe joint pain (arthralgia), and muscle pain. While many of these symptoms dissipate after a period of 10 days, joint pain may persist for weeks or months. Such chronic arthritis occurs in roughly 10–12 percent of patients. In infants and older adults (over age 65), infection may lead to encephalitis and long-term neurological disability (e.g., behavioral changes or developmental delays in infants or dementia in adults). Severe chikungunya-associated encephalitis is associated with an increased risk of death.

Diagnosis, treatment, and prevention

Infection with chikungunya virus is diagnosed through serological tests for antibodies to the virus and is confirmed through reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) detection of viral RNA. There are no vaccines or antiviral agents available for chikungunya fever. Thus, treatment is based on controlling symptoms of pain and fever. This is accomplished primarily through the administration of anti-inflammatory agents such as acetaminophen or ibuprofen.

Chikungunya fever can be prevented by managing Aedes mosquito populations. Using insect repellents and wearing long-sleeved shirts and pants are effective methods of preventing mosquito bites while outdoors. Secure screens in windows and doors and mosquito nets can be used to keep mosquitoes from entering houses or other buildings. In addition, emptying containers and other vessels that fill with rainwater eliminates potential mosquito breeding sites.

Historical and modern outbreaks

A disease similar to chikungunya fever that involved symptoms of fever and joint pain was described in India in 1824. The first epidemic in which the disease and the causative agent were characterized occurred in 1952–53 in an outbreak on the Makonde plateau in Africa. An outbreak in Bangkok in 1958 represented the first known incidence of the disease in Southeast Asia. Outbreaks in India, Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Vietnam, Myanmar, Laos, the Philippines, and Indonesia occurred in subsequent decades until about the mid-1980s, when the incidence of the disease in these areas decreased.

In 1998–99 chikungunya fever emerged in Malaysia, and in the early 2000s it reemerged in places such as India, Thailand, and Indonesia. The virus also appeared on Réunion, Mauritius, Comoros, and Seychelles—islands located in the western Indian Ocean. Beginning in 2005, a large outbreak occurred on Réunion that affected about one-third of the population by 2006. That same year an epidemic of the disease swept across multiple Indian states, including Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Gujarat, and Delhi, and some 1.5 million suspected cases were reported. In 2007 chikungunya fever appeared for the first time in Europe, causing illness in more than 200 people in Ravenna, a city in northeastern Italy. The virus was believed to have been carried to Ravenna by a person traveling from an affected region of India. The unexpected outbreak of a tropical disease in this region of the world prompted concern about the invasiveness and adaptive abilities of Aedes mosquitoes in cool climates.

In 2009 a large outbreak of chikungunya fever occurred in Thailand. Between January and June of that year, some 24,000 cases of disease were reported. The outbreak initially affected only southern provinces—those near the border with West Malaysia, which also was experiencing an outbreak of the disease. However, by June cases had begun to appear in the northern provinces of Thailand as well. The disease also spread to Singapore, located on the southern edge of West Malaysia, and to many areas of East Malaysia, located on the northwestern edge of the island of Borneo.

Over the next several years, outbreaks of chikungunya fever occurred sporadically, with cases emerging in regions already affected by the disease as well as in previously unaffected countries, such as Bhutan in south-central Asia and the French portion of the island of Saint Martin in the Caribbean Sea. In late 2013 and early 2014, the disease spread to multiple islands in the Caribbean (West Indies) via local transmission, indicating that mosquitoes in the region had become infected with the virus. Infected travelers leaving the islands subsequently carried the disease to other parts of the Americas. In 2014 in the Pacific Islands—including American Samoa, Samoa, the Cook Islands, French Polynesia, Kiribati, and the Marshall Islands—health officials estimated that more than a million people had been affected by chikungunya fever.. In the years that followed, outbreaks were documented in multiple regions, including Africa, Asia, the Americas, and Europe; Asia and the Americas were the areas most heavily affected.