Chikungunya virus: emergence of an arthritic arbovirus in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Chikungunya virus, an arthritogenic alpha virus, was first described in Tanzania in a febrile female [1]. The disease is endemic in many African countries as well as in South-East Asia (Indonesia, Thailand, Viet Nam, Myanmar, Cameroon, Philippines and Malaysia) [2]. From 2005–06 outbreaks were also reported in the Indian Ocean islands of Comoros, Mayotte, Madagascar, La Reunion, Mauritius and Seychelles [3–6]. Recently it has been reported in travellers from affected areas returning to European countries including Germany, Belgium, Switzerland, Norway and Italy [7]. We report the first case of autochthonous acute chikungunya infection in Saudi Arabia.