Chikungunya was first reported in 1952 when it caused an epidemic on the Makonde plateau in Tanzania. The disease was called chikungunya, which, in Makonde meant that which bends up, to describe the stooped posture caused by the arthritic symptoms of the disease. Since then, the disease has been reported from the Seychelles, Mauritius, Madagascar, the Comoros Islands, Malaysia, Cambodia, Vietnam, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, India, Pakistan, Indonesia and the Philippines. In Asia, the virus was first isolated in Bangkok in 1958. In India, chikungunya was detected for the first time in Kolkata in 1963. There were extensive outbreaks during 1964-1965 in south and central India. Maharashtra reported cases in 1973. The virus virtually disappeared for 33 years before resurfacing, again in Maharashtra, in 2005.

Though chikungunya has been around for over half a century, worldwide, little research has gone into it.who and the Indian Medical Association typify the attitude towards the disease: both say it is not dangerous on the basis of sketchy evidence. Since the virus was first described, PubMed, a database of medical journals, shows just 547 entries on chikungunya. Compared to this, 744 reports have been put out on avian influenza during the last year.

India mirrors this state of ignorance and neglect. An nvbdcp report, for instance, said there was an epidemic resurgence of the disease in 2001-2003, but no one took note of it. The ongoing outbreak has finally shaken the establishment, but is not enough to pull out the stops to track and study it. The government is relying largely on information from the R