Congenital Chikungunya Virus Infection after an Outbreak in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil

• Main Authors: Priscila Pinheiro Ribeiro Lyra, Gúbio Soares Campos, Igor Dórea Bandeira, Silvia Ines Sardi, Lilian Ferreira de Moura Costa, Flávia Rocha Santos, Carlos Alexandre Santos Ribeiro, Alena Maria Barreto Jardim, Ana Cecília Travassos Santiago, Patrícia Maria Ribeiro de Oliveira, Lícia Maria Oliveira Moreira
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Thieme Medical Publishers, Inc. 2016-07-01
• Series: American Journal of Perinatology Reports
• Subjects: newborn; chikungunya; congenital; infection
• Online Access: http://www.thieme-connect.de/DOI/DOI?10.1055/s-0036-1587323
• ISSN: 2157-6998; 2157-7005

Abstract There is little information about the congenital chikungunya virus (CHIKV) transmission. We describe two cases of well-documented congenital CHIKV infection in Salvador-Brazil, where CHIKV has been identified since 2014. The outbreak in the city led to the clinical CHIKV diagnoses of both pregnant women 2 days before delivery. Urine and blood samples from the mothers and newborns were collected and tested for reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analysis for Zika, dengue, and CHIKV. Both neonates and mothers had positive urine and serum PCR results for CHIKV. The newborns had significant perinatal complications and were admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit. The purpose of our case report is to show how severe congenital CHIKV infection can be and the importance to include CHIKV infection in the differential diagnosis of neonatal sepsis when mothers have clinical signs of the disease and live in an affected area.