Mohammad Rafiqul Islam

Chikungunya - An Emerging threat for Bangladesh

Bangladesh J Medicine 2017; 28: 54-55 Chikungunya fever is an emerging viral disease transmitted to humans by mosquitoes. Chikungunya Virus (CHIKV) is an arbovirus of the alphavirus genus (Togaviridae family). The Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus mosquitoes are the main vectors responsible for transmission of Chikungunya. In 1952, a young man in Tanzania admitted to hospital with fever, rash and arthralgia. Eventually he was diagnosed as the first case of Chikungunya.1 In 2005– 2006, a severe outbreak occurred on Reunion Island in the southwestern part of the Indian Ocean. Other islands in this area were affected during the same period. Estimated 300,000 people was infected and 237 patients died. The factors favoring this epidemic included viremic travelers from Africa, to an immunologically naive population. Mutation of the Chikungunya virus that expanded the mosquito vector from the Aedes aegypti to the Aedes albopictus which was common on the island.2-4 Mutation (E1A226V) improves replication and transmission efficiency in Ades. albopictus as well as the original Ades. aegypti, outbreaks spread to the Indian subcontinent.3 India has been suffering from outbreaks of Chikungunya since 2005 with variable severity. India and Bangladesh are two neighboring countries which share some similar epidemiological pattern.