Chikungunya virus

Paul Auwaerter, M.D.
Chikungunya virus is a topic covered in the Johns Hopkins ABX Guide.

To view the entire topic, please or .

Official website of the Johns Hopkins Antibiotic (ABX), HIV, Diabetes, and Psychiatry Guides, powered by Unbound Medicine. Johns Hopkins Guide App for iOS, iPhone, iPad, and Android included. Explore these free sample topics:

-- The first section of this topic is shown below --

MICROBIOLOGY

  • Chikungunya virus (CHKV): single positive-strand RNA arbovirus [Fig 1] of family Togaviridae, genus Alphavirus.
    • Name taken from the East African/Mozambique Makonde language "that which bends up," believed to describe contortions due to severe joint pain.
  • Human infection is vector-borne, primarily mosquitoes (e.g., Aedes albopictus, FIg 2)
    • Outbreak (2005-2006) in Indian Ocean islands may represent more virulent strain than historically as complications (meningoencephalitis, multiorgan dysfunction) and death reported more frequently.
  • Human disease, especially arthropathy, similar to alphavirus Ross River virus infection.

-- To view the remaining sections of this topic, please or --

MICROBIOLOGY

  • Chikungunya virus (CHKV): single positive-strand RNA arbovirus [Fig 1] of family Togaviridae, genus Alphavirus.
    • Name taken from the East African/Mozambique Makonde language "that which bends up," believed to describe contortions due to severe joint pain.
  • Human infection is vector-borne, primarily mosquitoes (e.g., Aedes albopictus, FIg 2)
    • Outbreak (2005-2006) in Indian Ocean islands may represent more virulent strain than historically as complications (meningoencephalitis, multiorgan dysfunction) and death reported more frequently.
  • Human disease, especially arthropathy, similar to alphavirus Ross River virus infection.

There's more to see -- the rest of this topic is available only to subscribers.

Last updated: September 27, 2019