Chikungunya: an emerging and spreading arthropod-borne viral disease

Abstract

The virus causing Chikungunya disease was identified over 50 years ago; however, because the disease appeared only in developing countries, little research on it has been done. Research interest in the disease increased after an important epidemiological outbreak occurred in 2005 on the French metropolitan island of La Reunion located in the south-eastern part of the Indian Ocean. In 2007, a smaller outbreak of Chikungunya developed in the north-eastern part of Italy made possible by immigration of a viremic patient from the Indian Ocean area and the enormous population of Aedes albopictus in Italy. Currently, Chikungunya is spreading in Southeast Asian aspects, clinical pictures, diagnosis and treatment of the disease caused by Chikungunya virus.