Chikungunya

Chikungunya Fever, a re-emerging Disease in Asia

Chikungunya fever, is a viral illness that is spread by the bite of infected mosquitoes. The disease resembles dengue fever, and is characterized by severe, sometimes persistent, joint pain (arthritis), as well as fever and rash. It is rarely life-threatening. Nevertheless widespread occurrence of diseases causes substantial morbidity and economic loss.

Epidemiology 
Epidemics of fever, rash and arthritis, resembling Chikungunya fever have been recorded as early as 1824 in India and elsewhere. However, the virus was first isolated between 1952-1953 from both man and mosquitoes during an epidemic of fever that was considered clinically indistinguishable from dengue, in the Tanzania.

Chikungunya fever displays interesting epidemiological profiles: major epidemics appear and disappear cyclically, usually with an inter-epidemic period of 7-8 years and sometimes as long as 20 years. After a long period of absence, outbreaks of CHIK fevers have appeared in Indonesia in 1999.