Abstract

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Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) is an alphavirus transmitted by culicine mosquitoes and causes Chikungunya fever, a febrile illness usually with concomitant rash and arthralgia. Having spread to over 40 countries worldwide and classified as a class B priority pathogen, CHIKV is an important threat to public health but has poor surveillance as with other viral haemorrhagic fevers (VHF) in Nigeria. The epidemiology of CHIKV in Nigeria is vague, thus, this study was designed to determine the current prevalence of CHIKV infection among febrile patients in Lagos. This was a cross-sectional study in which samples were collected from April to July 2018 at two General hospitals in Lagos. A total of 130 blood samples of febrile patients aged 1-60 years including 56 (43.1%) males and 74 (56.9%) females were collected and RNA was extracted from the serum samples. The extracted RNA was amplified using one-step RT-PCR with the specific CHIKV primers. The resulting amplicons (427bp) were run on 2% agarose gel and viewed on gel imager for the presence of CHIKV. A total of 9 out of 130 (6.9%) serum samples were positive for CHIKV RNA. The positive samples consist of 4 out of 56 (7.1%) males and 5 of 74 (6.8%) females (P>0.05). The age group 11-20 years had the highest prevalence of 14.3% whereas age groups 41-50 years and 51-60 years were both CHIKV RNA negative. This study shows a plausible circulation of CHIKV among febrile patients in Lagos with a prevalence of 6.9%. It also revealed that CHIKV, which is not generally suspected or diagnosed by physicians, may have contributed to the burden of febrile cases in Lagos

Keywords: Chikungunya Virus, Viral Hemorrhagic Fever, Prevalence, Febrile