chikungunya virus

chikungunya virus, infectious agent of the genus Alphavirus in the family Togaviridae. The virus causes chikungunya fever, a disease that was first recorded in 1952–53 in an outbreak on the Makonde plateau, located on the border between Mozambique and Tanzania in Africa. The virus was initially isolated from a Tanzanian patient in 1953.

Similar to other alphaviruses, chikungunya virus is made up of a single strand of RNA that is about 12,000 nucleotides long. The RNA is contained within a protein shell, or capsid, which in turn is covered by a phospholipid layer, or envelope. A single chikungunya virion particle, which includes the capsid and envelope, is 60–70 nanometres in diameter. There are multiple strains of chikungunya virus, which differ from one another in their RNA sequences. These different strains are grouped within several distinct lineages of chikungunya virus, which are known as South/East African, West African, Central African, and Asian. Chikungunya viruses also have antigenic profiles that make them unique among viruses, including other alphaviruses. Antigens are proteins on the surfaces of virion particles that serve to promote viral infectiousness and to stimulate antibody production by the host’s immune system. The antibodies generated and released into blood serum in response to chikungunya viral antigens enable these viruses to be detected by serological tests.

Nonhuman primates in Africa are believed to be the principal reservoir of chikungunya virus. The virus is considered enzootic in these animals—it circulates constantly in the African primate community but affects only a few animals at any given time. The virus is transmitted from its reservoir hosts to humans by arthropod vectors, the two known species of which are the mosquitoes Aedes aegypti and A. albopictus. The original vector of the virus was A. aegypti, which is native to Africa and India. However, genetic mutations enabled viral adaptation to A. albopictus, which is native to Asia. This mosquito is considered an invasive species, and factors involving changes in climate and increases in human travel have contributed to the subsequent spread of the mosquito and the virus, respectively, to multiple parts of the world. Where A. albopictus and the virus are coincident, outbreaks of chikungunya fever are likely to occur. Thus, chikungunya virus has appeared in areas of Europe and the southeastern United States and on multiple islands in the Indian Ocean largely because infected humans traveled from areas where the virus was endemic to areas where A. albopictus was invasive. The ability of the virus to carry out its life cycle between vector organisms and humans has facilitated its sustained spread in these geographical regions, which are distant from its nonhuman primate reservoirs in Africa.

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Chikungunya virus, similar to several other alphaviruses, is known for causing severe joint and musculoskeletal pain. Symptoms of illness appear 3–7 days after viral transmission by an infected mosquito. Although the disease is typically self-limiting—most symptoms disappear within 10 days—chronic arthritis, lasting months or sometimes years, occurs in roughly 10–12 percent of cases. Infants and adults over age 65 are at increased risk of chikungunya-associated encephalitis, which can result in long-term disability or death. For more information about symptoms, transmission, and outbreaks of the virus, see chikungunya fever.