CHIKUNGUNYA

Chikungunya Virus, belonging to Togaviridae family, genus Alphavirus, causes a disease called “Chikungunya Fever” spread by bite of Aedes albopictus (tiger mosquito) e Aedes aegypti mosquito.
Chikungunya Virus often produces a mild illness that may be confused with Dengue Virus, indeed symptoms include fever, headache, arthralgia, myalgia and rush.
Although serious complications are uncommon arthralgia can be debilitating and may persist for months, or even years, after infection.
The disease is endemic to Africa, India and South-East Asia, while its detection outside of these countries is normally related to trips to those areas.
The potential risks of transmission through donations of blood or organs should also be considered. For this reason it is of great importance to conduct the serological tests for the diagnosis and for blood and organs donations.

Method:

Immunoenzymatic method for the qualitative determination of IgG and IgM-class antibodies to Chicungunya in human serum. The test is based on the ELISA principle (Enzyme Linked ImmunoSorbent Assay) which uses the reaction between the antibodies present in the tested sample and the immobilized antigen bound to solid phases.The immunoglobulins bind to the antigen through incubation with diluted human serum. The result is expressed as an INDEX (ratio between the OD value of the sample and that of the Cut-off).