Chikungunya virus disease

Article By:

Shors, Teri Department of Biology and Microbiology, University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh, Wisconsin.

Last reviewed:August 2021

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1036/1097-8542.129750

A re-emerging arthropod-borne viral (arboviral) disease that is most often characterized by the sudden onset of high fever and severe joint pain (arthralgia), which can persist for years following acute illness. Chikungunya viruses are usually transmitted to humans by the bite of infected Aedes aegypti or A. albopictus mosquitoes (Fig. 1). Aedes species bite primarily during the daytime. Over the past decades, outbreaks of chikungunya virus disease (CVD) occurred in countries in Africa, Southeast Asia, and Europe, as well as on islands in the Indian Ocean and Pacific Ocean, resulting in millions of humans experiencing incapacitating severe joint pain (arthralgia). At the end of 2013, natural cases of CVD were confirmed in the Caribbean. The infections spread rapidly to other locations in the Americas within 9 months, resulting in a public health threat. See also: Animal virus; Arboviral encephalitides; Clinical pathology; Diptera; Disease ecology; Epidemiology; Infectious disease; Joint disorders; Mosquito; Public health; Virus; Virus classification; Zoonoses

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