Prevalence Pattern of Chikungunya Virus Infection in Nigeria: A Four Decade Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

Chikungunya (CHIK) is a re-emerging and myo-arthritogenic arboviral infection that has affected significant global population. However, CHIK is a neglected disease in Nigeria. This study aimed to estimate the pooled prevalence pattern of CHIK virus infection in Nigeria. A systematic review of eligible articles was conducted from "PubMed", "Scopus", "Google Scholar" and "Web of Science", between January 1980 to February 2020. Peer-reviewed articles describing CHIKV infection in cross-sectional studies were systematically reviewed. Random-effect model was used to pool the prevalence of CHIKV infection and associated sociodemographic data reported from eligible studies. In total, there were 10 published articles on CHIKV infection. Of these, 7 were cross-sectional studies, which comprised of 1347 pooled participants. The pooled anti-CHIKV IgM and IgG seroprevalence were 26.7% (95% CI: 23.2 - 30.4) and 29.3% (95% CI: 26.2 -32.6), respectively.  Of the pooled studies, there were 3.8% (95% CI: 2.0-6.4) CHIKV RNA positive cases and 46.1% prevalence of CHIKV neutralizing antibodies. Of the 6 geopolitical zones in Nigeria, Northeast had the highest serological evidence of CHIKV infection. There was a significance association between the prevalence of anti-CHIKV and geopolitical zones of Nigeria (χ²= 70.04; p˂0.0001). Sex (p ˂0.0001; OR= 1.87 [1.47 - 2.38]) and level of education (p ˂0.0001; OR= 2.74 [1.89 - 3.95]) were significant risk factors for pooled anti-CHIKV IgM seropositivity. However, no significant association was found with other sociodemographic variables (p ˃0.05). Although there was paucity of data on CHIKV research in Nigeria, this meta-analysis revealed a high prevalence of CHIKV infection in the country.