A Brief Review on Chikungunya

Abstract

Chikungunya is an infection caused by the Chikungunya virus. Chikungunya is an arthropod-borne virus transmitted mainly by Aedesspecies mosquitoes. Only the female are infective since they need blood meals for egg formation. Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) is an alpha virus from the Togaviridae family, which is transmitted by two types of mosquitos: Aedesalbopictus and Aedesaegypti. They mainly bite during the day, and causes epidemic tropical and subtropical countries. CHIKV is a positive-sense, single-stranded RNA virus of about 11.8 kb. There are three main genotypes, West African, Central/East African (C/EA), and Asian, the names reflecting the initial geo-graphic restriction of each type. The disease was first identified in 1952 in Tanzania. The term is from the Kimakonde language and means "to become contorted". This disease was first detected in 1952 in Makonde Plateau, which is the border area between Mozambique and Tanzania. This name of Chikungunya actually meant “that which bends up” which was derived from a Makonde word. The virus may circulate within a number of animals including birds and rodents. Chikungunya is an infection that is carried by a human which is transmitted between humans by mosquitoes. This was in reference to the stooped posture of the patient as a result of the joint pain which was a symptom of this disease. The identification of temporal windows with epidemic risk at different spatial locations is key to guiding mosquito population control campaigns