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Hindi Case Report
Outbreak of Neuro-Chikungunya in Northeastern Brazil
Hugo André de Lima Martins1*, Silvya Nery Bernardino1, Ketlin Helenise Ribas1, Camila Cordeiro dos Santos1, Taciana Antunes2, Valdenilson Ribeiro Ribas1 and Marcelo Moraes Valença11Department of Post-Graduation in Neuropsychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Federal University of Pernambuco, Brazil
2Getulio Vargas Hospital, Brazil
- *Corresponding Author:
- Hugo André de Lima Martins
Rua Josefa Miranda de Farias, 94
Center, Surubim, Pernambuco, Brazil
E-mail: hugomt2001@yahoo.com.br
Received date: May 22, 2016; Accepted date: June 09, 2016; Published date: June 11, 2016
Citation: Martins HAL, Bernardino SN, Ribas KH, Santos CC, Antunes T, et al. (2016) Outbreak of Neuro-Chikungunya in Northeastern Brazil . J Neuroinfect Dis 7:218. doi:10.4172/2314-7326.1000218
Copyright: © 2016 Martins HAL, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Abstract
Chikungunya virus, an alphavirus often associated with large epidemic outbreaks, has a serious social impact. The main symptoms are fever, rash and arthralgia, but recently neurologic complications have been described as an important cause of morbidity. During a large outbreak in at least five towns in poor states of the Brazilian northeast over recent months, 22 patients with chikungunya confirmed by serologic tests who presented some degree of neurologic involvement were assessed in our department. Changes in consciousness were present in almost half of the patients and epileptic seizures and persecutory delusions were present in three and four patients, respectively. As in Brazil there are insufficient serologic tests for patients with a clinical picture of neuro-chikungunya, this is probably a very underdiagnosed disease. The outcomes of the neurologic symptoms were good in all patients of the current series, in contrast with the permanent sequelae reported by other authors.
