Talk of the Town - Chikungunya

Abstract

The term ‘Chikungunya’ often refers to both the virus (CHIKV) and the illness or fever (CHIKF) caused by this virus. Chikungunya fever is a self-remitting febrile viral illness that has been associated with frequent outbreaks in tropical countries of Africa and Southeast Asia. The first outbreak of Chikungunya was in a Swahili village of southern Tanzania in 1952. The name ‘Chikungunya’ derives from the African dialect Swahili or Kimakonde which means ‘to become contorted or bent over’. In Congo, it is referred to as ‘buka-buka’, which means ‘broken-broken’. These terms describe the stooped posture of the sufferers as a consequence of severe chronic incapacitating arthralgia.1,2