Chikungunya is a viral disease transmitted by the bite of infected mosquitoes such as Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus. It can cause high fever, joint pain, muscle pain, and headache. Although chikungunya disease rarely causes death, the joint pain associated with the disease can last for months or years and can become a cause of chronic pain and disability. There is no specific treatment for this infection, nor any vaccine to prevent it. Currently, the only effective means of prevention is to protect people from mosquito bites.
Chikungunya is known to circulate in Africa, Asia, and the Indian subcontinent. In 2007, disease transmission was reported for the first time in Europe, in a localized outbreak in northeastern Italy. In December 2013, the virus was detected for the first time in the Americas Region. Since then, the virus has spread throughout most of the Region.
