Accurate Diagnosis of Chikungunya: Key Points of Laboratory Testing and Jin Hao Detection Plan
Release time：2025.07.29
Chikungunya fever (CHIK) is an acute infectious disease caused by the Chikungunya virus (CHIKV), transmitted through the bite of Aedes mosquitoes. Its transmission routes, epidemic characteristics, and clinical manifestations are similar to those of dengue fever.
Although there is currently no specific drug treatment for Chikungunya fever, management is mainly symptomatic. However, dengue patients should use aspirin, ibuprofen, and other non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs with caution to avoid worsening bleeding. Therefore, accurate diagnosis to distinguish between Chikungunya fever and dengue fever is especially important.
At the same time, rapid and accurate diagnosis of Chikungunya fever can achieve " early detection, early reporting, early isolation, and early treatment ", effectively reducing the risk of epidemic spread.
Diagnosis of Chikungunya fever
According to "Technical Guidelines for the Prevention and Control of Chikungunya Fever (2025 Edition)" and "Diagnosis of Chikungunya Fever" (WS/T590—2018) the diagnosis of Chikungunya fever is based on a comprehensive assessment of the patient's epidemiological history, 、 clinical manifestations, and laboratory test results. In areas where Chikungunya fever has never occurred, laboratory test results should be the primary basis.
Suspected case Within 12 days of onset, the patient has traveled to a Chikungunya fever epidemic area or the surrounding residential or workplace area has had cases of the disease, and meets clinical manifestations.
Clinically diagnosed case Meets the criteria for a suspected case and is positive for serum-specific IgM antibody.
Confirmed case Meets the criteria for a suspected or clinically diagnosed case and has any one of the following:
① Positive for Chikungunya virus nucleic acid.
② Chikungunya virus isolated from clinical specimens.
③ Seroconversion of Chikungunya virus IgG antibody or a fourfold or greater increase in titer in the convalescent phase compared to the acute phase.
Laboratory tests for Chikungunya fever
Laboratory tests for microbial infections usually include serological tests and pathogen detection. 。
Common laboratory tests for Chikungunya fever also fall into these two categories:
Serological tests: antibody detection.
Pathogen detection: nucleic acid testing, virus isolation and identification, antigen detection.
Because virus isolation and identification require high laboratory standards, are complex to operate, and prone to contamination, most laboratories cannot meet the requirements, so this article does not discuss it.
Antibody detection
Antibody detection is divided into serum-specific IgM antibody and and serum-specific IgG antibody. 。
serum-specific IgM antibody IgM indicates recent or acute infection and is the earliest antibody type produced after infection. Generally, IgM antibodies appear on day 1 after onset, and most patients test positive by day 5 .
and serum-specific IgG antibody. IgG indicates past infection, chronic infection, convalescence, or immune protection, produced later than IgM after infection. Generally, IgG antibodies appear on day 2 after onset, and most patients test positive by day 5 .
Common antibody detection methods include enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), colloidal gold immunochromatography, and immunofluorescence antibody assay (IFA). Among these, colloidal gold is preferred for rapid screening due to its short detection time.
Positive serum-specific IgM antibody; a fourfold or greater increase in serum-specific IgG antibody titer in the convalescent phase compared to the acute phase can be used as diagnostic criteria for Chikungunya fever.
Nucleic acid testing
Nucleic acid testing is a technique that directly detects the genetic material (DNA or RNA) of pathogens and is not exclusive to COVID-19 testing. It is one of the "gold standards" for modern infectious disease diagnosis.
Generally, within 4 days after onset, viral nucleic acid can be detected in the serum of most patients.
Detection of Chikungunya virus RNA in patient specimens can serve as a basis for confirmed diagnosis of Chikungunya fever.
In addition, nucleic acid testing can be performed on vector Aedes mosquito samples to understand the genetic diversity and transmission characteristics of the Chikungunya virus, as well as the infection rate and viral load in vector mosquitoes.
Antigen detection
Antigen detection directly tests whether structural proteins of the Chikungunya virus (such as capsid protein, envelope protein, etc.) are present in patient samples, mainly blood in the early stage of illness.
Generally, within 3 days after onset, the detection rate of Chikungunya virus antigen is relatively high.
Common antigen detection methods include enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and colloidal gold immunochromatography. Among these, colloidal gold is preferred for rapid screening due to its short detection time.
Positive serum Chikungunya virus antigen Can be used for preliminary screening of Chikungunya fever.
In response to the Chikungunya fever epidemic, Jinhao Pharmaceutical Owns independent research and production of Chikungunya virus nucleic acid detection kit (fluorescent PCR method), Chikungunya virus IgM/IgG antibody detection kit (colloidal gold method), Chikungunya virus antigen detection kit (colloidal gold method) and more vector-borne pathogen detection kits.
Through rapid and accurate laboratory testing, achieve early detection, early reporting, early isolation, early treatment to effectively reduce the risk of epidemic spread.
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