Introduction:

the Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) is an RNA virus that is transmitted through mosquitoes, which is associated with joint manifestations both in acute phases as well as persistent joint symptoms after the infection.

Objectives:

to describe the reported prevalence of arthritis in CHIKV infection in its different phases: acute, subacute, chronic, and the persistence of arthralgia in the chronic phase.

Materials and methods:

non-systematic bibliographic review of scientific articles published from 2001 to 2022, in English and Spanish, in the following databases: Medline, Cochrane, Lilacs, Scielo. No restrictions were made based on the type of study. The abstracts were reviewed and, if necessary, the complete articles were evaluated, taking into account for their selection the works that described the association of the CHIKV virus with arthritis in its different phases: acute, subacute, chronic, and the persistence of arthralgia in the chronic phase. To search for articles in the different search engines, the following search equations were used: “Chikungunya virus” and “arthritis”; “Chikungunya virus” and “persistent arthralgias”. Articles that spoke of infection in adults and described the presence of arthritis and chronic arthralgia once the acute and subacute phases, respectively, were applied as inclusion criteria. After the initial search, 26 articles were considered relevant for this review. Of the 26 articles selected, 7 were non-systemic bibliographic reviews, 6 preclinical studies (3 in mice, 2 on viral sequencing and 1 on cellular immunity), 4 descriptive cross-sectional studies, 4 prospective longitudinal, 2 retrospective studies, 1 systemic review with meta-analysis, 1 clinical practice guideline and 1 series of clinical cases.

Results:

The reported prevalence of patients with CHIKV arthritis progressing to a chronic stage ranges from 4.1 to 78.6%. The knees, ankles, elbows, wrists, and metacarpophalangeal joints are the most frequently involved joints in the chronic phase. The mechanism by which CHIKV induces chronic arthritis remains under investigation, with virus persistence in macrophages and molecular mimicry being the most accepted theories to date. Regarding the development of Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) in patients after CHIKV infection, there is no defined position to date. There is consensus that RA is the most frequently found inflammatory rheumatic disease in patients recovered from CHIKV. Two studies have shown that between 5% and 36% of patients who were evaluated for post-CHIKV arthralgia met the 2010 ACR criteria for RA.

Conclusions:

Musculoskeletal compromise, mainly chronic arthralgia, is a frequent manifestation in a large number of patients recovered from CHIKV. Although there is discrepancy between the different authors, there is an approximate prevalence of 30% of chronic joint symptoms after viral infection. The compromise is generally polyarticular, symmetrical and mainly affects joints of the hand and knees. More research and studies must be carried out in order to establish management guidelines for patients with joint involvement and a history of arbovirus infections.

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