Low intensity Chikungunya outbreak in rural Western India indicates potential for similar outbreaks in other regions

Abstract

Chikungunya (CHIK) is a disease of growing public health concern in India. It is caused by the Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) of the genus Alphavirus from the Togaviridae family. Since the 1952 Tanzania outbreak, CHIKV has caused outbreaks in various parts of Africa. Major CHIK outbreaks were reported from India in 1963–1964. Since its first isolation in Kolkata in 1963, there had been reports from different parts of India viz. Vellore, Chennai, Nagpur[1]. In the western part of the country, major outbreaks with high morbidity were reported from Barsi, Solapur District, Maharashtra in 1973[2]. Subsequently, in the absence of either active or passive surveillance, it seemed that the virus had disappeared from the country until the end of 2005. However, large scale outbreaks of fever caused by this virus in several states of India including Maharashtra in 2005–2006 have confirmed its reemergence. In the western part of the country, major outbreak with high morbidity was reported in 2005–2006[1,3-5]. Thereafter, sporadic cases continue to be recorded in Maharashtra State[6]. The present study was conducted to investigate the CHIK outbreak in rural Talegaon Dhamdhere Town of Pune City in Western Maharashtra in October–November 2012.