Chikungunya Virus Treatment: Scientists Develop Antibodies Against Mosquito-Borne Virus

Mosquitoes are known to be disease carriers. Aside from dengue, one viral disease it brings is chikungunya.

With its name derived from a particular word from the Kimakonde language, which means "to become contorted," victims of the disease may experience acute joint pains, according to the World Health Organization. Transmitted by the bite of infected mosquitoes like Aedes Aegypti and Aedes Albopictus, symptoms of those infected appear between four and seven days after the bite.

Chikungunya can cause high fever, joint pain in the lower back, ankle, knees, wrists or phalanges, rashes, joint swelling, muscle pain, fever and fatigue. Although the disease is rarely fatal, joint pains, described by the Pan American Health Organization as disabling like that of chronic arthritis, may last for months or even years. This disease shares some clinical symptoms with dengue and is often misdiagnosed as such where areas prone to the disease is common.

First identified in Tanzania in the early 1950s, chikungunya has been causing recurring outbreaks in Asia and Africa. The recent outbreak documented by the World Health Organization was in 2007, where 197 cases of chikungunya affected a coastal village in Italy. A year earlier, approximately 1,500,000 cases of chikungunya were reported in India alone.

The development of creating a cure for this disease is ongoing. In fact, scientists are now developing antibodies to counter the chinkungunya virus, DNAIndia reports. Led by Dr. James Crowe, MD at the Vanderbilt University Medical Centre, researchers extract blood from a person previously infected by Chikungunya when they were still children. From the extracted blood, they will retrieve DNA and antibody genes from any antibody-secreting cells that they can find.

The premise of their study is that together with the body's immune system, the antibodies may be more effective as a treatment than synthetic drugs. Dr. Crowe and his team are amazed that they are able to extract blood with cells that are making antibodies against the disease even after decades of being infected.

Pending the development of this treatment, there is no specific treatment for chikungunya, nor any vaccine to prevent it yet. People living in areas where the disease is prevalent are advised to protect themselves against mosquito bites.