2023-11-10 14:55:57
The United States has given the green light to the world’s first vaccine against chikungunya, a viral disease characterized by fever and severe pain, which is transmitted to humans by infected mosquitoes. In Italy – according to the monitoring of the Higher Institute of Health (ISS) on arbovirosis, 7 cases with 0 deaths were recorded in 2023: 3 infections in Veneto and one in Lombardy, Piedmont, Tuscany and Friuli Venezia Giulia. In the summer of 2017, an epidemic of indigenous cases was recorded.
Identified in over 60 countries in Asia, Africa, Europe and the Americas, chikungunya is transmitted from person to person through the bite of a female mosquito of the Aedes genus, such as Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus (the tiger mosquito), recalls the ISS . In many cases the infection is completely asymptomatic. In people who have symptoms, the disease usually takes a flu-like course, with high fever and joint pain (hence the name chikungunya, which means ‘that which curves’ or ‘writhes’ in Swahili). A skin rash may be present. Complications are rare and can affect the central nervous system, heart, liver.
In 2022, the number of cases and deaths due to chikungunya in the Americas region – the WHO reports on its website – was higher than that reported in previous years. The first few weeks of 2023 have seen this trend continue as cases rise and deaths become more apparent. Because of this alarm, the WHO’s Pan American Health Organization recommended that member states intensify actions against this arbovirus, including diagnosis and correct management of cases, to address possible chikungunya epidemics.
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