Medizinische Monatsschrift für Pharmazeuten
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Med Monatsschr Pharm · Jan 2009
Review[Chikungunya fever--expanded distribution of a re-emerging tropical infectious disease].
Chikungunya fever has been originally distributed in several parts of Africa, South Asia and Southeast Asia. The disease is caused by Chikungunya virus, an enveloped, single-stranded ribonucleic acid virus of the alphavirus genus (family Togaviridae). In Asia, virus transmission to humans occurs predominantly by the bite of the female Aedes aegypti or Aedes albopictus mosquito. ⋯ Between July and September 2007, more than 200 cases of infection with Chikungunya virus have been notified in a region of north eastern Italy. The first autochthonic outbreak in Europe has been associated with the presence of A. albopictus, which is found with a high population density in Italy. During the last decades, A. albopictus mosquitos have been spread into several temperate regions and are now widely distributed in several areas of South and Central Europe and North America.