Chronic chikungunya arthritis and rheumatoid arthritis: what they have in common.

Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) is a single-stranded RNA virus belonging to the family Togaviridae and genus Alphavirus, that causes an acute febrile illness, chikungunya fever, transmitted to humans by Aedes species mosquitoes. During acute illness, patients have high fever, polyarthralgias/polyarthritis, maculopapular rash, headache, and myalgia that lasts for days to weeks. Following resolution of acute infection, a significant proportion of patients develop chronic chikungunya arthritis that can resemble rheumatoid arthritis.

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