Chikungunya in the Caribbean: It's been here before.

Chikungunya in the Caribbean: It's been here before.HT: Crof.

Via Emerging Infectious Diseases: Reappearance of Chikungunya, Formerly Called Dengue, in the Americas. The abstract:

After an absence of ≈200 years, chikungunya returned to the American tropics in 2013. The virus is maintained in a complex African zoonotic cycle but escapes into an urban cycle at 40- to 50-year intervals, causing global pandemics. 

In 1823, classical chikungunya, a viral exanthem in humans, occurred on Zanzibar, and in 1827, it arrived in the Caribbean and spread to North and South America. In Zanzibar, the disease was known as kidenga pepo, Swahili for a sudden cramp-like seizure caused by an evil spirit; in Cuba, it was known as dengue, a Spanish homonym of denga. 

During the eighteenth century, dengue (present-day chikungunya) was distinguished from breakbone fever (present-day dengue), another febrile exanthem. In the twentieth century, experiments resulted in the recovery and naming of present-day dengue viruses. 

In 1952, chikungunya virus was recovered during an outbreak in Tanzania, but by then, the virus had lost its original name to present-day dengue viruses.

Jamaica: Guillain-Barré syndrome cases spike with chikungunya.

Jamaica: Guillain-Barré syndrome cases spike with chikungunya. HT: Crof.

Via the Jamaica Observer: GBS cases spike with CHIKV. Excerpt:

The University Hospital of the West Indies in St Andrew saw about five cases of Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) between October and November 2014. According to consultant neurologist Dr Francene Gayle, on average, she has seen one case of GBS per year since she has been at the health facility. 

The consultant neurologist told the Jamaica Observer that the chikungunya virus that swept across the island late last year and has left several with lingering joint pains caused a spike in the number of GBS cases. 

"I must tell you that, on average, since I have been back, I have been home three years, so on average, I see maybe one case of GBS per year at the University Hospital of the West Indies," Dr Gayle disclosed. 

"But with CHIKV, between October and November, we saw about five cases of Guillain-Barré syndrome, so it resulted in a spike in the number of cases that we would normally see annually." 

GBS is a disorder in which the body's immune system attacks part of the peripheral nervous system. The symptoms generally include weakness and tingling in the limbs before spreading, and eventually resulting in paralysis. 

Speaking to Your Health Your Wealth in a recent interview, Dr Gayle said there are a few causes but the commonest cause is post-viral illness. The consultant neurologist explained that influenza as well as a particular bacteria known as campylobacter jejuni can bring on GBS. 

She also spoke specifically to the Jamaican context. "In our Jamaican context, chikungunya virus is also associated with Guillain-Barré syndrome," Dr Gayle said. "Viruses, on a whole, what they do is that your body mounts an attack against the infectious agent and, unfortunately, there are various proteins on the surface of the viruses that your immune system targets. 

"These same proteins have similar proteins on the nerve linings and so the antibodies that are produced to fight these viral infections can actually be mediated against those proteins on the nerves within the body," she continued. "And so the nerves get damaged as a bystander."

Mexico detects first case of mosquito-borne chikungunya virus

Mexico detects first case of mosquito-borne chikungunya virus. HT: Crof.

Via Reuters: Mexico detects first case of mosquito-borne chikungunya virus. Excerpt:

Mexico has detected its first domestic case of the painful mosquito-borne viral disease chikungunya in the southwest of the country, the state government of Chiapas said on Saturday. 

Chikungunya is spread by two mosquito species, and is typically not fatal. But it can cause debilitating symptoms including fever, headache and severe joint pain lasting months. 

The government of Chiapas, which borders Guatemala, said an 8 year old girl became the first person to contract the disease in Mexico, and that she was treated in hospital in the town of Arriaga. The girl has since been released. 

There is no commercial vaccine for the virus, which was detected for the first time in the Americas late last year. 

Chikungunya has already appeared in much of the Caribbean, Central America and the United States. A handful of people have had the virus in Mexico, having contracted it abroad. 

In September, El Salvador said it had detected nearly 30,000 cases of the virus. In the United States, locally transmitted infections - as opposed to infections in Americans traveling abroad - were reported for the first time this year.

WHO on chikungunya in France, 4 cases of chikungunya locally-acquired infection.

WHO on chikungunya in France, 4 cases of chikungunya locally-acquired infection. HT: Crof.

WHO has published Chikungunya – France. Excerpt:

On 21 October 2014, WHO was notified by the National IHR Focal Point for France of 4 cases of chikungunya locally-acquired infection in Montpellier, France. The cases were confirmed by tests conducted by the French National Reference Laboratory for arboviruses on 20 October 2014. This is the first time that locally-acquired transmission of chikungunya has been detected in France since 2010. 

The 4 cases of chikungunya infection occurred within the same family, with symptoms onset between 20 September and 12 October. The cases live in Montpellier in the vicinity of a chikungunya case imported from Cameroon. The cases have no history of travel out of their district of residence in the 15 days prior to the onset of symptoms.

Chikungunya is a viral disease that is rarely fatal and is transmitted to humans by infected mosquitoes. Symptoms of chikungunya include high fever and headache, with significant pains in the joints (ankles, wrists), which can persist for several weeks.

The symptoms appear between 4 and 7 days after the patient has been bitten by an infected mosquito.

The name, chikungunya derives from a word in Makonde language roughly meaning “that which bends up”, reflecting the physique of a person suffering from the disease.