Objectives: To determine the prevalence of Chikungunya cases and to correlate the clinical symptoms of Chikungunya with serological findings in patients attending Gauhati Medical College and Hospital.
Material and Methods: The study was carried out among 866 clinically suspected Chikungunya cases presenting with fever, headache, retro-orbital pain, back pain and arthralgia and the sample were tested for Chikungunya virus specific IgM antibodies, in the Department of Microbiology, Gauhati Medical College and Hospital. Detection of CHIK V IgM antibodies in serum of all subjects was carried out by ELISA kits procured from NIV, Pune. Age, sex wise distribution and the period of peak incidence of the positive cases was studied.
Result: In the study, the seroprevalence of Chikungunya among the suspected cases was 9.93%. The prevalence of Chikungunya infection according to clinical symptoms were 97% fever, 67.44% headache, 30.23% retro-orbital pain, 30% back pain, 22% arthalgia. Gender wise distribution showed male and female ratio to be 2.7:1.The metro population were infected more than the rural population. The maximum number of seropositive was seen among Kamrup Metro followed by Barpeta. The peak season was in the month of September and in the 30-39 age group.
Conclusion: Chikungunya is a newly emerging viral infection which had spread to new areas during this outbreak. Hence it is essential to have a proper diagnostic laboratory support, proper surveillance system and public awareness in order to prevent future epidemic in this region.