Profile of The Chikungunya Infection: A Neglected Vector Borne Disease which is Prevalent In The Rajkot District.

BACKGROUND Chikungunya Virus has been responsible for significant human morbidity probably for several hundred years; yet in spite of its prevalence, the Chikungunya Virus epidemiology and the mechanisms of virulence and pathogenesis are still poorly understood and undetermined. AIMS This study was done to show that the Chikungunya infection has shown a change in its pattern of occurrence with respect to the clinical features, the gender and the age group which are predominant and the season of the outbreak. The present study was conducted to evaluate the features of the Chikugunya infection in patients with acute febrile illness from various geographical regions of Rajkot district, Gujarat, India. TYPE OF STUDY A cross-sectional study, multi centric study. STATISTICAL METHOD The Chi-square test for the goodness of the fit and independence. METHODS One hundred ninty three serum samples of suspected cases of patients who attended the outdoor and indoor patients departments at a tertiary care hospital, Rajkot and the primary health centres, the community health centre and the urban health centres that were covered in the Rajkot district, which were collected during the period of one year from 1(st) January 2011 to 25(th) December 2011, were studied. The sera were processed and tested for the detection of the Chikungunya IgM antibody by using a solid phase, capture micro well ELISA technology. RESULTS Out of the total 193 cases, 84 were positive for the Chikungunya IgM antibody. Out of the total 84 positive cases, 32 were males (38.09%) and 52 were females (61.9%). Female patients showed more prevalence of this disease. A majority of the patients presented with fever, headache and joint pain: 44(52.38%). The highest prevalence of Chikungunya was found in the 40-50 years age group, which occurred in 34 (40.47%) cases. In the months of November and December, the occurrence of Chikungunya was more. CONCLUSION This study emphasizes the need for a continuous surveillance on the disease burden by using multiple diagnostic tests and it also warrants the need for appropriate molecular diagnostic techniques for an early detection of the Chikungunya virus.