An insight into Chandipura virus in India

Recently lot of news regarding disease due to Chandipura virus has emerged in various newspapers/magazines. After reading the reports published it seems that thing is still brewing in the natures nest and it could affect mankind.

- Mudit Chandra and Gurpreet Kaur

It is only 4 years that we all were inflicted with a pandemic that created lot of scare and misinformation about SARS-COV2. Thus, to keep ourselves updated and informed this information has been prepared.

What is Chandipura virus? Why it is hitting the headlines? What is the causeative agent for this? Whom it affects? What are the signs earlier as well as later to identify this disease What is the diagnosis of this disease What are the preventive measures How can we control this disease

Taking stepwise

First of all we would like to understand what is Chandipura disease. Chandipura disease is a viral disease belonging to family Rhabdoviridae and it endemic in India. It is actually an acute encephalitis syndrome (AES) that though occurs sporadically but can cause outbreaks in western, southern, and central part of the country, especially during monsoon season (1).

It is transmitted by insect vectors (any vehicle that transmit disease from one place to another) sandflies (Phlebotomus papatasi), mosquitoes, and ticks. It is a zoonotic disease i.e. can be transmitted from animals to humans and vice versa. The exact animal reservoirs and modes of transmission are still being investigated, thus highlighting the need for ongoing research and surveillance. To date, no human-to-human transmission has been reported.(2) The disease mainly affects children (less than 15 years of age).