How great is the threat of chikungunya virus?

Abstract

In the last decade, chikungunya virus has emerged from an obscure arbovirus that caused limited outbreaks of disease in Africa and Asia to the cause of a pandemic affecting millions of people and spanning five continents. Two separate chikungunya virus genotypes have been responsible for outbreaks during this period, including strains adapted to transmission in Aedes albopictus mosquitoes. Further spread of this virus into new regions of the Western Hemisphere is predicted during the present rainy season in the tropics, and recurrent viral introductions and disease outbreaks, as occurred in Réunion in 2010, should be expected. Chikungunya virus no longer simply threatens; it has arrived as a significant, global pathogen.

Keywords:

• Aedes albopictus
• alphavirus
• arbovirus
• chikungunya virus
• emerging infectious diseases

Financial & competing interests disclosure

J Waggoner is supported by NIH National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (K08 AI110528-01). The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.

No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.