Chikungunya – an emerging infection in Bangladesh

Abstract

Chikungunya fever is a mosquito-borne illness of humans caused by the chikungunya virus, a type of alphavirus. Aedesaegypti and Aedesalbopictus mosquitoes are the main vectors of chikungunya in Asia and the Indian Ocean islands. The virus was first reported in 1952 in Tanzania. Since then, it has been attributed to many outbreaks in a number of countries. The virus is geographically distributed in Africa, Southeast Asia and India. Sporadic cases are regularly reported from different countries in the affected regions.