COVID-19 isn’t the only viral infection on the rise across the globe, so is chikungunya, which can cause arthritis-like symptoms and may lead to long-term joint pain.

COVID-19 isn’t the only viral infection on the rise across the globe, so is chikungunya, which can cause arthritis-like symptoms and may lead to long-term joint pain.
Will Boggs, MD |
NEW YORK (Reuters Health)—A new chikungunya virus-like-particle vaccine appears to be safe and immunogenic, according to results from a phase 2 trial. “The phase 2 safety, tolerability and immunogenicity were similar to the data seen in an earlier phase 1 study,” Grace L. Chen, MD, of the National Institutes of Health Vaccine Research Center, Bethesda,…
Chikungunya is among a group of 16 diseases transmitted through mosquito, tick or flea bites that is of increasing public health concern in the U.S. Although few rheumatologists are likely to diagnose patients with the acute phase of the disease, they may encounter a handful of patients each year who complain of persistent, and often…
David Douglas |
NEW YORK (Reuters Health)—More than half of those infected by the mosquito-borne Chikungunya virus will go on to experience chronic articular pain or arthritis, according to Brazilian researchers. Chikungunya—meaning “to become contorted” in the Makonde language—was first described during an outbreak in Africa in the 1950s. Many outbreaks have since occurred in Africa, Asia and…
Arthritis & Rheumatology |
In this review, the authors address the key pathophysiologic mechanisms that drive acute and chronic chikungunya arthritis, arguably the most incapacitating sequela among long-lasting chikungunya virus disease manifestations, based on recent animal experimental disease models and epidemiologic studies. They explore the latest findings in therapeutic development aimed at limiting viral spread and at immune and…
Bryn Nelson, PhD |
Doctors have had few options to treat the chronic rheumatoid arthritis-like symptoms associated with chikungunya virus infections beyond over-the-counter pain relievers. A recent study in Science Translational Medicine has spurred new optimism by finding that a combination therapy—the anti-rheumatic drug abatacept paired with a chikungunya-neutralizing monoclonal antibody—abolished acute symptoms in infected mice.1 The strategy must…
Study identifies elevated cytokines in early and extended, symptomatic phases of disease
Dany V. Thekkemuriyil, MD |
How to spot, diagnose and treat this rapidly spreading mosquito-borne viral illness whose symptoms mimic arthritis
Rheumatic diseases are intrinsically linked to environmental conditions. With a constantly changing environment, how can rheumatologists adapt to the challenges of global climate change, pollution and other environmental threats? The Environment + Genetics Tamiko Katsumoto, MD, a clinical associate professor in the Division of Immunology and Rheumatology at Stanford University, Palo Alto, Calif., emphasizes the…
SAN DIEGO—Viral infections are a common cause of acute arthritis and, in general, tend to be short lived and are not usually associated with significant articular inflammation. Due to the prevalence of various viral infections across the globe, any patient with signs of early inflammatory arthritis (i.e., symptoms that have not yet lasted six weeks) should be evaluated for a possible infectious etiology, said Dr. Leonard Calabrese in the Review Course at ACR Convergence 2023.