Identification of Chikungunya virus strains circulating in Kelantan, Malaysia in 2009

Malaysia experienced its first outbreak of chikungunya virus (CHIKV) infection in late 1998 in Klang District in Selangor; six years later the virus re-emerged in the state of Perak. All the CHIKV isolates in 1988 and 2006 shared high sequence similarities and belonged to the Asian genotype. In 2007 and 2008 CHIKV infection again reemerged but the genotype was the Central/East African genotype. This strain was found to be similar to the strains causing outbreaks in the India Ocean. In 2009, the strains circulating in Malaysia, including the state of Kelantan, based on the partial E1 gene, also belong to the Central/East African genotype.