Drug combination effective against chikungunya arthritis in mice

Saint-Louis: Combining a drug for rheumatoid arthritis with one that targets the chikungunya virus can eliminate the signs of chikungunya arthritis in mice in the disease’s earliest stage, according to researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. The findings could lead to a drug therapy for the painful, debilitating condition for which there currently is no treatment.

Measles vaccine in modified form also effective against Chikungunya virus

Vienna University. Austria: A modified, conventional measles vaccine has the potential to act against the Chikungunya virus. This is the result of a study at the University Clinic for Clinical Pharmacology of the MedUni Wien (Medical University of Vienna), which has now been published in the top journal "The Lancet Infectious Diseases". Up until now, there has been no effective vaccine against the Chikungunya virus and the associated feverish illness which can prove lethal, and is particularly prevalent in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Shared symptoms of Chikungunya virus, rheumatoid arthritis may cloud diagnosis

Washington University. US: A mosquito-borne virus that has spread to the Caribbean and Central and South America and has caused isolated infections in Florida often causes joint pain and swelling similar to that seen in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.