Chikungunya in Mozambique: A Forgotten History

Introduction The control of any infectious epidemicor outbreak-prone disease demands a thorough understanding of geographic distribution in both endemic and epidemic settings. This may require a careful study not only of recent reports but also of activity far back into the historical record. For chikungunya, the historical record provides evidence of the presence of the virus in Mozambique. Recently, serological evidence of chikungunya, based on seroconversion and a 4-fold rise in titer of IgG antibodies in acute febrile patients in southernMozambique, has been found [1]. No epidemic of chikungunya has been reported in Mozambique since 1952–1953. This paper revisits earlier published and unpublished work on chikungunya in Mozambique. In addition, we discuss the name of the disease, which may provide a clue to its presence. With the reemergence of chikungunya in 2000 after several decades of absence, new attention has been drawn to the virus. Between 2005 and 2007, large epidemics were reported in the Indian Ocean islands of the Comoros, Seychelles,Mauritius, and Reunion [2]. The Comoros lie just across the Mozambican channel from northernMozambique, and interchange is frequent.