A scoping review of Chikungunya virus infection: epidemiology, clinical characteristics, viral co-circulation complications, and control

Abstract

Chikungunya fever is a mosquito-borne viral illness characterized by a sudden onset of fever associated with joint pains. It was first described in the 1950s during a Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) outbreak in southern Tanzania and has since (re-) emerged and spread to several other geographical areas, reaching large populations and causing massive epidemics. In recent years, CHIKV has gained considerable attention due to its quick spread to the Caribbean and then in the Americas, with many cases reported between 2014 and 2017. CHIKV has further garnered attention due to the clinical diagnostic difficulties when Zika (ZIKV) and dengue (DENV) viruses are simultaneously present. In this review, topical CHIKV-related issues, such as epidemiology and transmission, are examined. The different manifestations of infection (acute, chronic and atypical) are described and a particular focus is placed upon the diagnostic handling in the case of ZIKV and DENV co-circulating. Natural and synthetic compounds under evaluation for treatment of chikungunya disease, including drugs already licensed for other purposes, are also discussed. Finally, previous and current vaccine strategies, as well as the control of the CHIKV transmission through an integrated vector management, are reviewed in some detail.

Beyond Fever and Pain: Diagnostic Methods for Chikungunya Virus

“…The classic triad of symptomatic chikungunya includes an abrupt-onset febrile illness, severe and often debilitating arthralgias, and a rash ( Fig. 3) (1,2,6). Clinical disease evolves rapidly, and symptomatic patients may present within 2 to 3 days of symptom onset (1, 25, 58-61).…”

“…Although molecular methods, detailed below, provide a highly sensitive means of detection, false negatives may occur in specimens with low levels of virus, reverse transcription-PCR (RT-PCR) inhibitors, or strains that harbor mutations in target regions. Inoculation of suspected arbovirus-containing human samples onto cell cultures may allow for replication of the virus to high titers, followed by confirmation using immu-nofluorescence or RT-PCR (6,88,89). Furthermore, the semiunbiased nature of viral culture has allowed detection of coinfections with unexpected viral pathogens while simultaneously documenting that these are replicating viruses in the human host (90,91).…”

“…until the 1950s in what is now southern Tanzania (1,6,12). Occasional outbreaks also occurred in Asia from the late 1950s through the latter 20th century (1,(12)(13)(14).…”

Knowledge of Chikungunya Disease among Academic Population in Private Universities, Khartoum State, Sudan - 2019

“…The most indicative clinical symptoms are fever and bilateral, painful and debilitating polyarthralgia that affects mainly small peripheral joints of ankles, wrists and phalanges as well as large joints of the knees and the elbows beside inability to walk occasionally. In the absence of defined antiviral drugs and vaccine, treatment focuses only on alleviating the symptoms [1]. CHIKV infection in outbreaks had shown significant morbidity with severe incapacitation and low mortality.…”

“…The disease is transmitted mainly by the vectormosquito (Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus) [1,9]. It was first discovered in the 1950s in Tanzania.…”