Contents


### **Chapter 6 75**

Treatment of Chikungunya Virus (CHIKV) Using Targeted Immunotherapy *by Fleury Augustin Nsole Biteghe, Chalomie Nyangone Ekome Toung, Jean De La Croix Ndong, Neelakshi Mungra, Tahir B. Dar and Arnaud John Kombe Kombe*

Preface

Our current understanding of the microbial world and its role in human health has allowed microbiologists to determine the involvement of viruses in human health. Many diseases afflicting humankind are caused by viruses. As I write these words, for exactly two years month for month, the face of the entire world has turned completely inside out, affecting all aspects of our lives and our institutions due to a viral infection: the coronavirus disease caused by SARS-CoV-2 or COVID-19. From our social interactions to our professional routines that have completely changed, global trades and the world economy have all been so much disturbed that it is nearly impossible for any expert to say with certainty when our social interactions, professional lives, international trades, and the world economy will go back to "normal." Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the only certainty we have at this point is the uncertainty of tomorrow. While COVID-19 is an extreme case of viral infection, some more mild are silently disturbing the lives of many hundreds of thousands of people and families across the globe. It is the case of the chikungunya virus that causes chikungunya fever, which is endemic to tropical forested and subtropical areas of the globe. More recently, the virus has spilled over into temperate regions of the globe. Interestingly, despite the continual spread of the disease to new regions of the world where the disease was not observed or described before, chikungunya fever remains nevertheless unknown to not only the lay public but also and shockingly to even seasoned health professionals. The extreme difficulty for most people including health professionals, patients, and their families to tell chikungunya fever apart from some other viral infections such as dengue fever and Zika fever because of the extreme similarity of clinical symptoms exhibited between these three diseases prompted me to take on the challenge to serve as the academic editor of this book.

Hence, as I was invited to serve as the academic editor and started the work on this book, I had in mind four major audiences: health professionals, scientific

Health professionals, physicians and nurses alike, are at the forefront of the fight against chikungunya fever. Therefore, it is important to me to provide them with essential information necessary for a correct diagnosis of the disease at an early stage of onset. Misdiagnosis caused by the lack of education of health professionals even in endemic countries often leads to the unnecessary suffering of patients. Sometimes, unfortunately, the disease evolves into complicated forms. Thus, a major goal of mine was to keep health professionals informed about innovative tools and modern approaches currently available and/or in an advanced stage of investigation for them to unambiguously achieve a diagnosis of chikungunya fever in a timely

For young scientific investigators interested in studying the chikungunya virus, a book that covers broad aspects of the disease such as its history, epidemiology, spread and pathogenesis, and new perspectives in the pipeline for its prevention and treatment, represents a one-stop-shop for initiating and/or enriching a research topic on the disease. While there is currently no antiviral drug available to treat the

investigators, patients, and the curious reader.

manner when patients turn to them for care.
