Chikungunya epidemic in India: a major public-health disaster

Increased Mortality Rate Associated with Chikungunya Epidemic, Ahmedabad, India

“…Because of this fi nding, the mortality rate on Réunion Island can be applied to the epidemic in India to estimate the probable number of deaths that may have occurred. With limited case data reported from India and a mortality rate on Réunion Island of 1 per 1,000 cases, it was previously estimated that India would have ≈1,200-19,000 deaths caused by the chikungunya epidemic (12). The excess number of deaths observed during the epidemic in Ahmedabad suggests that estimates of deaths caused by chikungunya in India need to be revised.…”

Expression of the capsid protein of Chikungunya virus in a baculovirus for serodiagnosis of Chikungunya disease

“…Ross during an outbreak of dengue-like fever in Tanzania, East Africa in 1952 (Ross, 1956). During 2005During -2006, an epidemic outbreak of CHIK fever occurred on several islands in the Indian Ocean and in India, resulting in millions of clinically suspected cases (Mavalankar et al, 2007;Schuffenecker et al, 2006). In 2006, there was a major outbreak of CHIKV infection in India with 1.39 million reported cases (Lahariya and Pradhan, 2006).…”

Phylogenetic Analysis of Chikungunya Virus Strains Circulating in the Western Hemisphere

“…Beginning in 2005, the ECSA genotype virus was responsible for an explosive epidemic in which the virus moved from coastal Kenya to islands adjacent to southeastern Africa and on to India, where well over 1 million cases were recorded and are believed to be dramatically underestimated. 6 During this time, imported cases were reported worldwide, and in some instances, autochthonous transmission was detected in distal locations. 7 An E1 mutation shared among some ECSA strains that facilitates replication in Ae.…”