Seroprevalence of chikungunya fever in a tertiary care hospital in North Karnataka

Introduction: Chikungunya disease is caused by Chikungunya virus, an Alpha virus under the family Togaviridae, transmitted through the vector Aedes spp. mosquitoes. The sudden onset of very high fever along with rash and severe arthralgia are the main symptoms. It's a major public health problem similar to other arboviral diseases like Dengue and Japanese B encephalitis infections. Materials and Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted at a tertiary care hospital in north Karnataka. Serum samples of 555 suspected cases of Chikungunya fever were tested for Chikungunya IgM antibodies by ELISA (from NIV, Pune) over a period of 4 years, from January 2013 to December 2016. Results: Of the 555 serum samples tested, 128 (23.06%) were positive for Chikungunya IgM antibodies. The most affected age group was 21 to 30 years 35 (27.34%), followed by 31 to 40 years 26(20.31%). Male to female ratio was 1:1.56. Of the seropositive cases, all the cases presented with the history of fever and joint pain. The maximum number of cases were seen during the monsoon i.e. June 32 (25%), followed by the post monsoon period September 26 (20.31%).) Conclusions: The seroprevelance of Chikungunya cases in the present study is 23.06% with high prevalence in the monsoon and post monsoon months affecting the productive age group of the population. This reiterates the fact that Chikungunya continues to be a major health concern in our setting and indicates the need for appropriate strategies to reduce the severity of disease.