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Serious Illness In Infants Infected With Chikungunya Virus

The chikungunya virus rarely harms the infants of mothers who areinfected early in pregnancy, but frequently causes serious issuesincluding persistent brain injury to babies born to mothers who getthe virus near the time of delivery. This was released on March, 17,2008 in the open-access journal PLoS Medicine.

Chikungunya causes an illness with many similarities to dengue fever,and can induce symptoms such as fever, rash, and lasting joint andmuscle pains, usually within 3-7 days of infection. It is generallyfound in tropical regions such as sub-Saharan Africa and inSoutheast Asia,India, and the Western Pacific, where its vectors, the Aedesmosquitoes, reside.

It was first isolated in Tanzania in the early 1950s, and since then,outbreaks of chikungunya fever have occurred every 7-8 years. Aprolific chikungunya outbreak occurred in 2007 and 2007 on the Islandof La Réunion. During this outbreak, information was collected in thesouthern part of the island on more than 7,000 women in delivery andtheir babies by physiciansfrom the Island of La Réunion and Marc Lecuit of the Institut Pasteurin Paris.

When examining the mothers, tt was discovered that 700 of them had beeninfected with the chikungunya virus at a time between conception and 3days prior to delivery. Among all of these women, three early fetaldeaths were linked to the infection, but no other mothers had passed onthe virus to their children. However, of the 39 mothers who wereinfected within 2 days before or after delivery, 19 of the babiesbecame infected themselves. All infected babies were born healthy, butdeveloped symptoms such as fever, weakness, and pain within 3-7 days.Ten of the infected babies became seriously ill, including nine thatdeveloped brain swelling, and two with bleeding in the brain. Four ofthese children were evaluated as disabled at the end of the studyseveral months later.

In conclusion, the researchers make the statement that clinicians andpublic health officers should be sensitive to the threat posed by thechikungunya virus to newborn children. Whenever outbreaks occur, theysay, clinicians should monitor babies exposed to the virus neardelivery for a week after birth, and be primed during this time periodto provide them additional treatment in the hospital.

Thomas Scott of the University ofCalifornia, Davis and colleagues, who were not involved in the study,contributed a related Policy Forum in which they describe suppressionof the disease carrying mosquitoes as a practical method of controllingurban dengue, yellow fever, and chikungunya viruses.

About PLoS Medicine

PLoS Medicineis an open access, freely available international medical journal. Itpublishes original research that enhances our understanding of humanhealth and disease, together with commentary and analysis of importantglobal health issues. For more information, visit http://www.plosmedicine.org.

ThePublic Library of Science (PLoS) is a non-profit organization ofscientists and physicians committed to making the world’s scientificand medical literature a freely available public resource. For moreinformation, visit http://www.plos.org.

Multidisciplinary prospective study of mother-to-childchikungunya virus infections on the Island of La Reunion
Gerardin P, Barau G, Michault A, Bintner M, Randrianaivo H,et al.
PLoS Med 5(3):e60.
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Defining Challenges and Proposing Solutions for Control of the VirusVector Aedes aegypti
Amy C. Morrison, Emily Zielinski-Gutierrez, Thomas W. Scott*,RonaldRosenberg
PLoS Med 5(3): e68
ClickHere For Full Length Perspective

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