Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

Origin of current chikungunya strain unknown

Thiruvananthapuram: The origin of the current chikungunya virus strain circulating in India is not yet clear because the same strain has been present in India since 2000, even though it did not create any epidemic, scientists from the National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune, have revealed.

The East/Central/South African genotype (ECSA) of the CHKV virus, which is responsible for the current chikungunya epidemic in India had been found to be the same strain which led to the outbreak of chikungunya in ReUnion Islands in 2005-06.

It had thus been envisaged that the ECSA genotype was introduced into India from the ReUnion Islands. However, the same strain had been isolated from mosquito by NIV in the year 2000, from Yawat in Maharashtra.

The fact that the ECSA genotype of the virus was present in India even before the disease actually struck is significant because it throws up questions about the origin of this strain. In fact, it is yet to be investigated if the strain of chikungunya virus which led to the current epidemic moved from India to ReUnion Islands or if it was the other way around, NIV Senior Deputy Director Vidya A. Arankalle said. Dr. Arankalle was making a presentation here on Saturday on the ‘Re-emergence of Chikungunya in India,’ at the 73rd annual meeting of the Indian Academy of Sciences, being held here from November 1. Chikungunya has re-emerged in India after a gap of 32 years, but there has been a shift in the virus genotype, from Asian to ECSA.

The virus strain isolated in Yawat in 2000 is closely related to the strain that caused the epidemic again in 2006 in India. Dr. Arankalle pointed out that in 2000, Congo reported a resurgence of chikungunya after a 39-year gap. She said the current strain of CHK virus was unique and not a result of the recombination of the Asian and African genotypes. Virus isolation studies also hints at the possibility of trans-placental transmission (mother-to-foetus) because the virus was isolated from the serum sample of a four-day-old baby. She said that more studies were required on the association of mutation involved in the current CHK strain and the Yawat 2000 strain and its extensive transmissibility.

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