Epidemiological Alert: Chikungunya increase in the Region of the Americas - PAHO/WHO

[Mary Wilson]

13 February 2023

In 2022, the number of cases and deaths due to chikungunya in the Region of the Americas were above the numbers reported in previous years. The first weeks of 2023 have seen this trend continuing with the increase in cases and deaths becoming more evident. Due to this increasing trend, the Pan American Health Organization / World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO) recommends Member States intensify actions to prepare health care services, including the diagnosis and proper management of cases, to face possible outbreaks of chikungunya and other arboviral diseases, to minimize deaths and complications from these diseases.

Situation summary

Between epidemiological week (EW) 1 and EW 52 of 2022, a total of 271,176 cases of chikungunya1, including 95 deaths2,3, were reported in 13 of the countries and territories of the Region of the Americas. This figure is higher than that observed in the same period of 2021 (137,025 cases, including 12 deaths). During the first four epidemiological weeks of 2023, 30,707 cases and 14 deaths3 due to chikungunya were reported (Figure 1 and 2).

The increase in cases and deaths from chikungunya compared to the numbers reported in recent years are in addition to the simultaneous circulation of other arboviral diseases, such as dengue and Zika, both transmitted by the same vectors, Aedes aegypti (most prevalent) and Aedes albopictus, which are present in almost all countries and territories of the Region of the Americas. ...

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Pan American Health Organization / World Health Organization. Epidemiological Alert:
Increase in cases and deaths from chikungunya in the Region of the Americas. 8 March 2023, Washington,
D.C: PAHO/WHO; 2023.
Pan American Health Organization • www.paho.org • © PAHO/WHO, 2023
Epidemiological Alert Increase in cases and deaths
from chikungunya in the Region of the Americas
8 March 2023

Situation summary1
Between epidemiological week (EW) 1 and EW 52 of 2022, a total of 273,685 cases of chikungunya, including 87 deaths, were reported in 14 of the countries and territories of the Region of the Americas. This figure is higher than that observed in the same period of 2021
(137,025 cases, including 12 deaths). During the first eight epidemiological weeks of 2023, 115,539 cases and 33 deaths due to chikungunya were reported (Figure 1 and 2), with the highest incidence rates observed in Paraguay (1,128 cases per 100,000 population) and Brazil (14.2 cases per 100,000 population).
The increase in cases and deaths from chikungunya compared to the numbers reported in recent years are in addition to the simultaneous circulation of other arboviral diseases, such as dengue and Zika, impacting on the overload of care services. These three diseases are
transmitted by the same vectors, Aedes aegypti (most prevalent) and Aedes albopictus, which are present in almost all countries and territories of the Region of the Americas.