A pathogen is once again causing alarm in India. It is the Chandipura virus (CHPV) – transmitted by sandflies and ticks – which can cause fever with joint pain, Reye’s syndrome (a rare form of acute encephalopathy) and infantile cerebral palsy. India has confirmed 51 cases in various regions of the country, especially children. Now an international study in the publication phase – coordinated by Francesco Branda, Unit of Medical Statistics and Molecular Epidemiology of the Campus Bio-Medico University of Rome – has created a platform to better monitor cases and provide “a complete global picture of the ongoing epidemic with timely and coordinated responses”. According to the researchers, climate change is also behind this outbreak in India, which can “influence the spread and prevalence of various infectious diseases, potentially altering vector habitats and disease transmission patterns, such as Chandipura virus, an emerging tropical pathogen named after the village in Maharashtra, India where it was first identified in 1965.”
“Symptoms initially resemble those of influenza,” the study authors describe, “but can rapidly progress to encephalitis, coma and death within 24-48 hours, affecting mostly children under 15 years of age. The exact mechanism by which the virus enters the central nervous system is not yet fully understood. However, it is thought to produce a phosphoprotein in brain cells within 6 hours of infection, which may explain its rapid lethality. Unfortunately, scientists warn, there are no antiviral drugs or vaccines available. Vector control, as we are talking about an arbovirus, hygiene and awareness are the only available measures against the disease.”
The aim of the work is to “harmonise the information collected, ensuring that data from different sources can be effectively compared and combined”. A platform has therefore been created to monitor infections in different states and plan rapid and concerted responses. Starting from the Chandipura virus, a sort of ‘case study’, the researchers have created the Health Data Southeast Asia “which will aim to collect and integrate detailed data on emerging and re-emerging viruses in Asia”. In this way, “a centralised platform for epidemiological and genomic analysis will be available, allowing real-time monitoring of the spread and characteristics of these pathogens”.
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