Seropositivity of Chikungunya in an outbreak setting, India: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Since 2005, the chikungunya virus (CHIKV) has caused numerous outbreaks in India. Though it causes many outbreaks every year, the disease dynamics are poorly understood in an outbreak setting.

Hence, we conducted this review to estimate the seropositivity of the chikungunya infection during a community-based outbreak in India.

We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis as per the PRISMA guidelines. We included all the articles from India reporting the seropositivity of CHIKV in a community-based outbreak setting.

Data on year, geographic location, and laboratory tests used to confirm the diagnosis were also extracted.

We assessed the quality of the included studies using the National Institute of Health's study quality assessment tool.

We included 18 articles for the review. The pooled seropositivity of chikungunya infection is 38% (95%CI: 30- 45%; 95% PI: 0.03- 72%). The pooled seropositivity for males and females is 41%, respectively (male: 95% CI: 27- 54%; female: 95%CI: 26- 55%). The subgroup analysis by geographic location shows a high seropositivity in southern India (48%, 95% CI: 32- 64%) followed by eastern India (45%, 95% CI: 13- 77%).

Chikungunya has shown high seropositivity in an outbreak setting in India. This shows a high disease burden in the community, leading to local transmission. Though the seroprevalence has reduced over the years, we should still watch out for potential outbreaks in the community.