The largest-ever study tracking chikungunya burden in East Africa
Background
Chikungunya is a mosquito-borne disease widespread across the tropics. Its name derives from a word in the East African Kimakonde language, meaning “to become contorted”, referring to the severe joint pain it causes in sufferers, which can become chronic in some individuals. The very young, very old, and those with underlying medical conditions are at risk of life-threatening disease.
Chikungunya was first identified in Tanzania in 1952. Since 2004, the virus has spread quickly causing large-scale outbreaks around the world. Today, over a billion people live in areas where chikungunya is endemic. Climate change could further amplify its threat by making more regions habitable for the virus-transmitting mosquitoes (Aedes albopictus and Aedes aegypti).
CEPI aims to advance a chikungunya candidate vaccines towards licensure and enable equitable access for populations living in affected countries. CEPI has supported three chikungunya vaccine candidates in late-stage development. One of these candidates, developed by Valneva, is the first chikungunya vaccine in the world to be approved by a Stringent Regulatory Authority. CEPI and its partners are now working to expand access to the vaccine in outbreak-affected countries, including supporting scientific studies to generate additional data to help the rollout of the vaccine in endemic countries and for potential label extensions to expand access to vulnerable populations at risk of infection.
ACHIEVE
New research—known as the Accelerating CHIkungunya burden Estimation to inform Vaccine Evaluation (ACHIEVE) study—will investigate the extent to which chikungunya is affecting countries in East Africa, a lesser-studied region behind Asia and the Americas.
Led by the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI)-Wellcome Trust Research Programme, a consortium of experts are set to investigate the number of children and adults affected by chikungunya at sites in Kenya and Tanzania. From early spring 2025, patients presenting at five healthcare facilities across the two countries with fever and neurological symptoms, such as altered consciousness, will be screened and tested for the virus. The research team will collect this information over the next two years to better estimate the number of people with chikungunya in the region and inform outbreak planning efforts. The study will also provide important data to advance the development and deployment of vaccines against chikungunya in the future.
The ACHIEVE study will also look at important research areas including:
the prevalence of chikungunya among pregnant women which may lead to mother-to-child virus transmission.
the economic burden associated with chikungunya on local health systems and communities.
the diversity of chikungunya strains in the region which could help to improve understanding of the range of viral mutations that vaccines should be targeting.
Summary
Better insights into chikungunya’s prevalence and its associated symptoms from the ACHIEVE study could help guide how and where future chikungunya vaccine studies as well as vaccination programmes may run in East Africa.
Resources
Find out more about chikungunya and CEPI's R&D efforts in this disease area here: Chikungunya on CEPI.net
