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. 2025 May 8:16:100664.
doi: 10.1016/j.ijregi.2025.100664. eCollection 2025 Sep.

The reappearance of Chikungunya virus in Bangladesh, 2024

Md Abdullah Omar Nasif  1 , Najmul Haider  2 , Immamul Muntasir  1 , Md Omar Qayum  1 , Mohammad Nayeem Hasan  3 , Mohammad Rashedul Hassan  1 , Manjur Hossain Khan  1 , Sharmin Sultana  1 , Jannatul Ferdous  1 , Kyaw Thowai Prue Prince  1 , Mithun Rudra  1 , Mahbubur Rahman  1 , Ahmed Nawsher Alam  1 , Tahmina Shirin  1
Affiliations

The reappearance of Chikungunya virus in Bangladesh, 2024

Md Abdullah Omar Nasif et al. IJID Reg. .

Abstract

Objectives: We investigated a new outbreak of Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) in Dhaka and nearby areas of Bangladesh in 2024, examining its epidemiology, clinical features, and genomic characteristics.

Methods: The Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research enrolled suspected Chikungunya cases from October 19 to December 31, 2024. Reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction was performed, and positive cases were followed up via telephone between days 21 and 28. The E1 gene of 12 samples was sequenced.

Results: Of 394 enrolled patients, 138 (35%) were CHIKV-positive, mostly male (64.5%) and over 30 years old (83.3%), with 98.6% residing in Dhaka. Common symptoms included fever (100%), arthralgia (97.8%), myalgia (83.2%), and headache (65.0%). While no fatalities were recorded, 14.5% required hospitalization with an average stay of 5.9 days, and patients lost an average of 10.5 workdays. At 28 days, 81% of 58 follow-up patients had persistent symptoms. Both hospitalization and persistent symptoms were associated with having >4 symptoms initially (incidence risk ratio: 1.14; 95% confidence interval: 1.02-1.27 and 1.19; 95% confidence interval: 1.01-1.39, respectively). Sequence analysis identified an E1-K211E substitution, with phylogenetics revealing a distinct East-Central-South-African (ECSA) sub-lineage compared to 2017 strains.

Conclusions: CHIKV is likely to re-emerge in Bangladesh amid the ongoing dengue outbreak, posing a risk of a major outbreak soon. Strengthening efforts to control Aedes mosquitoes is essential.

Keywords: 2024; Bangladesh; Chikungunya; E1 gene; E1-K211E; ECSA genotype.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have no competing interests to declare.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The daily recruited confirmed Chikungunya cases at the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR), Bangladesh, between 16 October and 31 December 2024.
Figure 2
Figure 2
The geographical location of Chikungunya cases in Bangladesh between 16 October 2024 and 31 December 2024.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Time-scaled phylogeny of Chikungunya viruses circulating in Asia showing 286 genomes sampled between June 2006 and November 2024. The color of the tips indicated the host country of the taxa. Branch color indicated the inferred ancestral geographic location of the descendants. Genotype was indicated adjacent to the key branches. The number above the black arrow denotes the inferred year of introduction of the currently circulating lineage in Bangladesh. The green triangle indicates the sequenced samples in this study. Numbers in the X axis represent the time in the unit of years.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Geographical transmission map of Chikungunya viruses in Asia showing the regional movement of viruses. The placement of the circles (demes) in the map is according to the sampling location. The size of the demes indicates the number of sequences sampled from a specific country. Colors of the demes are according to the Countries indicated in the legend. The shape & color of the transmission lines denote the direction of the virus movement.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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