A city-based study on chikungunya virus in 2007 gains significance in the wake of 69 cases of chikungunya being reported from Pune and surrounding areas in October.

The study has shown that chikungunya (CHIK) virus that had infected 13 lakh people in 2007 had activated the immune system of those infected to produce disabling arthritic aches and pains. In 2007, the epidemic had hit India after 32 years. The good news is that none of the patients taken up in the study had a relapse and their 'temporary arthritis' was cured within six months.

Researchers from the Centre for Rheumatic Disease (CRD) carried out a study on 156 chikungunya patients (105 women, three children) and said a majority of them suffered from a spectrum of arthritic disorders, including severe forms like anklosing spondylitis. The aches and pains were, however, cured within six months and there was no relapse.

Dr Arvind Chopra, CRD, Pune, director said the research study that has been published in Arthritis and Rheumatism shows that the chikungunya virus seems to have activated the immune system in producing these arthritic aches and pains. The study unravels a spectrum of musculoskeletal disorders, including disabling arthritis which required appropriate early rheumatologic care. Arthritis continued even after the infection was cured.

However, the infection has not proved to be fatal with the duration of the acute illness rarely exceeding 10 days, along with other features like inflammatory arthritis, debilitating fatigue, and sometimes a transient skin rash (vasculitis).

The study focused on patients with post chikungunya musculoskeletal disorders. The 156 patients continued to have chronic musculoskeletal illness following CHIK virus infection. Ninety-five patients (59 women) who got musculoskeletal disorders for the first time were labelled as having post-CHIK musculoskeletal relapse.

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