Vol. 7, Issue 2, Part D (2025)

Background: Chikungunya is arboviral disease caused by chikungunya virus belonging to genus Alphavirus and genus Togaviridae. Virus is transmitted by vector like Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus. Chikungunya presents with sudden onset of fever, joint pain and swelling, rash, headache, lower back ache and conjunctivitis. The aim of this study was to study prevalence of chikungunya and post chikungunya arthritis in Nagpur.
Methods: This prospective observational study was carried out at Viral Research Diagnostic Laboratory, Department of Microbiology, Indira Gandhi Government Medical College, Nagpur between May 2025 and July 2025. 4897 serum samples from suspected chikungunya cases from June 2024 to December 2024 were tested in virology lab using chikungunya IgM MAC ELISA kits provided by NIV, Pune. Along with this we called 670 confirm positive cases telephonically till three months to enquire about post arthritis and its duration.
Results: 4897 samples tested, 1462 samples were positive for chikungunya giving attack rate of 29.85%. Knees and ankle were most commonly involved joints. The younger population recovered in 10-15 days while as elderly population showed lingering symptoms even after 3 months of infections.
Conclusions: Chronicity and lingering symptoms were majorly seen in elderly population leading to poor quality of life. Therefore, there is need of long term follow up.