Somehow it’s taken us until the penultimate episode to cover this season’s first mosquito-borne virus. But we assure you, this episode is well-worth the wait. Although Chikungunya virus is often lumped in with dengue or Zika, the unique characteristics that distinguish Chikungunya virus from these other arboviruses are just as important to note as the similarities among them. In this episode, we explore these differences and similarities in the biology of Chikungunya virus before reassessing what we thought we knew about the history of this disease, a history that is presently under revision. Finally, we wrap up the episode as we always do, by taking stock of where we stand with Chikungunya virus today. Tune in for a good deal of dengue compare/contrast, a whodunnit (or whichdiseaseisit) in the history of these two diseases, and a frustrating attempt to gather present-day case numbers.
| History | Biology |
| Agarwal, Ankita, et al. “Evidence of experimental vertical transmission of emerging novel ECSA genotype of Chikungunya Virus in Aedes aegypti.” PLoS neglected tropical diseases 8.7 (2014): e2990. | Pialoux, G., Gaüzère, B.A., Jauréguiberry, S. and Strobel, M., 2007. Chikungunya, an epidemic arbovirosis. The Lancet infectious diseases, 7(5), pp.319-327. |
| Battaglia, Vincenza, et al. “The worldwide spread of Aedes albopictus: New insights from mitogenomes.” Frontiers in genetics 13 (2022): 931163-931163. | Morrison, T.E., 2014. Reemergence of chikungunya virus. Journal of virology, 88(20), pp.11644-11647. |
| Carey, Donald E. “Chikungunya and dengue: a case of mistaken identity?.” Journal of the history of medicine and allied sciences 26.3 (1971): 243-262. | Schwartz, O. and Albert, M.L., 2010. Biology and pathogenesis of chikungunya virus. Nature Reviews Microbiology, 8(7), pp.491-500. |
| Cherian, Sarah S., et al. “Evolutionary rates and timescale comparison of Chikungunya viruses inferred from the whole genome/E1 gene with special reference to the 2005–07 outbreak in the Indian subcontinent.” Infection, genetics and evolution 9.1 (2009): 16-23. | Monteiro, V.V.S., Navegantes-Lima, K.C., de Lemos, A.B., Da Silva, G.L., de Souza Gomes, R., Reis, J.F., Rodrigues Junior, L.C., da Silva, O.S., Romão, P.R.T. and Monteiro, M.C., 2019. Aedes–Chikungunya Virus Interaction: Key Role of Vector Midguts Microbiota and Its Saliva in the Host Infection. Frontiers in microbiology, 10, p.492. |
| Christie, James. “On epidemics of dengue fever: their diffusion and etiology.” Glasgow Medical Journal 16.3 (1881): 161. | Coffey, L.L., Failloux, A.B. and Weaver, S.C., 2014. Chikungunya virus–vector interactions. Viruses, 6(11), pp.4628-4663. |
| Deeba, F., et al. “Global transmission and evolutionary dynamics of the Chikungunya virus.” Epidemiology & Infection 148 (2020). | Weaver, S.C., Chen, R. and Diallo, M., 2020. Chikungunya virus: role of vectors in emergence from enzootic cycles. Annual Review of Entomology, 65, pp.313-332. |
| González-Sánchez, Juan A., and Giovanni F. Ramírez-Arroyo. “Chikungunya virus: History, geographic distribution, clinical picture, and treatment.” Puerto Rico Health Sciences Journal 37.4 (2018): 187-194. | Nkoghe, D., Kassa Kassa, R.F., Bisvigou, U., Caron, M., Grard, G. and Leroy, E.M., 2012. No clinical or biological difference between Chikungunya and Dengue Fever during the 2010 Gabonese outbreak. Infectious disease reports, 4(1), p.e5. |
| Hakim, Mohamad S., et al. “The origin and continuing adaptive evolution of chikungunya virus.” Archives of Virology (2022): 1-13. | Beltrán-Silva, S.L., Chacón-Hernández, S.S., Moreno-Palacios, E. and Pereyra-Molina, J.A., 2018. Clinical and differential diagnosis: Dengue, chikungunya and Zika. Revista Médica del Hospital General de México, 81(3), pp.146-153. |
| Halstead, Scott B. “Reappearance of chikungunya, formerly called dengue, in the Americas.” Emerging infectious diseases 21.4 (2015): 557. | Kolimenakis, A., Heinz, S., Wilson, M.L., Winkler, V., Yakob, L., Michaelakis, A., Papachristos, D., Richardson, C. and Horstick, O., 2021. The role of urbanisation in the spread of Aedes mosquitoes and the diseases they transmit—A systematic review. PLoS neglected tropical diseases, 15(9), p.e0009631. |
| Kolimenakis, Antonios, et al. “The role of urbanisation in the spread of Aedes mosquitoes and the diseases they transmit—A systematic review.” PLoS neglected tropical diseases 15.9 (2021): e0009631. | Cunha, M.S., Costa, P.A., Correa, I.A., De Souza, M.R., Calil, P.T., Da Silva, G.P.D., Costa, S.M., Fonseca, V.W.P. and da Costa, L.J., 2020. Chikungunya virus: an emergent arbovirus to the south American continent and a continuous threat to the world. Frontiers in Microbiology, 11, p.1297. |
| Kraemer, Moritz UG, et al. “Past and future spread of the arbovirus vectors Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus.” Nature microbiology 4.5 (2019): 854-863. | Puntasecca, C.J., King, C.H. and LaBeaud, A.D., 2021. Measuring the global burden of chikungunya and Zika viruses: A systematic review. PLoS neglected tropical diseases, 15(3), p.e0009055. |
| Lumsden, William HR. “An epidemic of virus disease in Southern Province, Tanganyika territory, in 1952–1953 II. General description and epidemiology.” Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 49.1 (1955): 33-57. | Bettis, A.A., L’Azou Jackson, M., Yoon, I.K., Breugelmans, J.G., Goios, A., Gubler, D.J. and Powers, A.M., 2022. The global epidemiology of chikungunya from 1999 to 2020: A systematic literature review to inform the development and introduction of vaccines. PLoS neglected tropical diseases, 16(1), p.e0010069. |
| AJ, Haddow. “An epidemic of virus disease in Southern Province, Tanganyika Territory, in 1952-53; an additional note on Chikungunya virus isolations and serum antibodies.” Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 51.3 (1957): 238-240. | Lwande, O.W., Obanda, V., Lindström, A., Ahlm, C., Evander, M., Näslund, J. and Bucht, G., 2020. Globe-trotting Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus: risk factors for arbovirus pandemics. Vector-Borne and Zoonotic Diseases, 20(2), pp.71-81. |
| Powers, Ann M., et al. “Re-emergence of Chikungunya and O’nyong-nyong viruses: evidence for distinct geographical lineages and distant evolutionary relationships.” Journal of General Virology 81.2 (2000): 471-479. | Silva, L.A. and Dermody, T.S., 2017. Chikungunya virus: epidemiology, replication, disease mechanisms, and prospective intervention strategies. The Journal of clinical investigation, 127(3), pp.737-749. |
| Robinson, Marion C. “An epidemic of virus disease in Southern Province, Tanganyika territory, in 1952–1953.” Transactions of the royal society of tropical medicine and hygiene 49.1 (1955): 28-32. | |
| Ross, R. W. “The Newala epidemic: III. The virus: isolation, pathogenic properties and relationship to the epidemic.” Epidemiology & Infection 54.2 (1956): 177-191. | |
| Stedman, George W. “Some account of an anomalous disease which raged in the Islands of St Thomas and Santa Cruz, in the West Indies, during the Months of September, October, November, December, and January 1827-8.” Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal 30.97 (1828): 227. | |
| Vega-Rúa, Anubis, et al. “Vector competence of Aedes albopictus populations for chikungunya virus is shaped by their demographic history.” Communications biology 3.1 (2020): 1-13. | |
| Wahid, Braira, et al. “Global expansion of chikungunya virus: mapping the 64-year history.” International Journal of Infectious Diseases 58 (2017): 69-76. | |
| Weaver, Scott C., and Naomi L. Forrester. “Chikungunya: Evolutionary history and recent epidemic spread.” Antiviral research 120 (2015): 32-39. | |
| Zeller, Herve, Wim Van Bortel, and Bertrand Sudre. “Chikungunya: its history in Africa and Asia and its spread to new regions in 2013–2014.” The Journal of infectious diseases 214.suppl_5 (2016): S436-S440. |
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