Chikungunya fever

Q: 74 year old male with past medical history of brittle diabetes who recently returned from Africa is admitted to ICU with hypovolemia,  cutaneous rash, fever, joint pains, and sepsis. Astute infectious disease physician diagnosed the Chikungunya fever. This infection is due to? (select one)

A) Mosquito bites
B) Rodent exposure
C) Canine bites
D) droplet exposure
E) post-surgical infection


Answer: A

Chikungunya is a word from an Africa's Kimakonde language which means "stooped walk". As the name applies, it affects the joints. It is an acute febrile inflammatory polyarthralgia due to a virus transmitted by mosquitoes. Suspected cases can be confirmed through viral isolation, PCR, and serology. Treatment is supportive.

#infectious-diseases


References:  

1. Cabié A, Ledrans M, Abel S (July 2015). "Chikungunya Virus Infections". The New England Journal of Medicine. 373 (1): 94 

2. Simon F, Javelle E, Cabie A, et al. French guidelines for the management of chikungunya (acute and persistent presentations). November 2014. Med Mal Infect 2015; 45:243. 

3. Monge P, Vega JM, Sapag AM, et al. Pan-American League of Associations for Rheumatology-Central American, Caribbean and Andean Rheumatology Association Consensus-Conference Endorsements and Recommendations on the Diagnosis and Treatment of Chikungunya-Related Inflammatory Arthropathies in Latin America. J Clin Rheumatol 2019; 25:101.