Arthritis due to chikungunya in 2007 was temporary: study

Researchers from the Centre for Rheumatic Disease (CRD) carried out a study on 156 chikungunya patients (105 women,three children) and said a majority of them suffered from a spectrum of arthritic disorders,including severe forms like anklosing spondylitis. The aches and pains were,however,cured within six months and there was no relapse.

Dr Arvind Chopra,CRD,Pune,director said the research study that has been published in Arthritis and Rheumatism shows that the chikungunya virus seems to have activated the immune system in producing these arthritic aches and pains. The study unravels a spectrum of musculoskeletal disorders,including disabling arthritis which required appropriate early rheumatologic care. Arthritis continued even after the infection was cured.

However,the infection has not proved to be fatal with the duration of the acute illness rarely exceeding 10 days,along with other features like inflammatory arthritis,debilitating fatigue,and sometimes a transient skin rash (vasculitis).

The study focused on patients with post chikungunya musculoskeletal disorders. The 156 patients continued to have chronic musculoskeletal illness following CHIK virus infection. Ninety-five patients (59 women) who got musculoskeletal disorders for the first time were labelled as having post-CHIK musculoskeletal relapse.

The remaining 61 patients (45 with rheumatoid arthritis,eight with undifferentiated inflammatory arthritis and eight with seronegative spondylarthritis) were considered to have a relapse of their earlier illness and were labelled as having pre-CHIK musculoskeletal relapse. October has seen 139 cases of dengue from Pune and surrounding areas,said Dr A G Rajput,director,state surveillance centre on dengue,chikungunya and Japanese Encephalitis at B J Medical College. Entomologist A S Bhosale said dengue cases rose from 743 in 2008 to 1,276 this year.

2 more H1N1 deaths
Two more persons from Hadapsar and Bibvewadi died of swine flu on Monday. With the death of 41-year-old Shivaji Walke from Hadapsar,and 75-year-old Ganpati Dhaigude from Bibvewadi,the toll has now gone up to 102.