Chikungunya: a potentially emerging epidemic?

• Published in: PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases
• Main Authors: Michelle M Thiboutot, Senthil Kannan, Omkar U Kawalekar, Devon J Shedlock, Amir S Khan, Gopalsamy Sarangan, Padma Srikanth, David B Weiner, Karuppiah Muthumani
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2010
• Subjects: Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine; RC955-962; Public aspects of medicine; RA1-1270; Arctic
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0000623; https://doaj.org/article/fc2a9ccfc4d84bdca1a346f367f5d2b2

Chikungunya virus is a mosquito-borne emerging pathogen that has a major health impact in humans and causes fever disease, headache, rash, nausea, vomiting, myalgia, and arthralgia. Indigenous to tropical Africa, recent large outbreaks have been reported in parts of South East Asia and several of its neighboring islands in 2005-07 and in Europe in 2007. Furthermore, positive cases have been confirmed in the United States in travelers returning from known outbreak areas. Currently, there is no vaccine or antiviral treatment. With the threat of an emerging global pandemic, the peculiar problems associated with the more immediate and seasonal epidemics warrant the development of an effective vaccine. In this review, we summarize the evidence supporting these concepts.