Summary:
Chikungunya is one of the most rapidly spreading Aedes
mosquito-borne viral infectious diseases. Recently in
Bangladesh it has emerged as an important public health
issue. Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) mostly spread by Aedes
aegypti and Aedes albopictus, an anthropophilic mosquito
species widely distributed in Asia, Europe, Africa and
America. Our objective was to determine the clinical,
biochemical and radiological features of patients at the
acute phase of CHIKV infection. The purpose of study was
to evaluate the literature and summarize the current state
of CHIKV-associated disease, including clinical
presentation, diagnosis, risk factors for development of
severe diseases, complications and treatment.
We present 253 confirmed cases of chikungunya having
different clinical presentations occurring among adult
patients from different background including foreigner in
Dhaka city, admitted in a tertiary level hospital situated in
Gulshan from march’17 to November 2017 . All patients
had fever and joint pain. Other common features were rash,
diarrhoea, vomiting, confusion, and altered liver
biochemistry. Adult patients with multiple co-morbidities
admitted in hospital with male preponderance of 59 % and
rest were female 41%. Most common complication was post
CHIKV arthritis (79%) and rest of the less common
complications were post viral asthenia (34%), myocarditis
(27%), pneumonitis (30%). Dengue was excluded in all
patients. Paracetamol remained the mainstay of treatment
during febrile periods, but around 62% of the patients had
prolonged joint symptoms requiring non-steroidal antiinflammatory
drugs, colchicines, steroid. Among joint
involvement, ankle joints were commonly involved joint
presented with post viral arthritis. Since there is no specific
treatment of chikungunya, prevention through vector
control and public health education is the key.
Key words: Chikungunya fever, Viral infectious disease.
(J Bangladesh Coll Phys Surg 2019; 37: 124-129)
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3329/jbcps.v37i3.41734