International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Medical Sciences 2020; 6(3): 41-45 http://www.sciencepublishinggroup.com/j/ijcems doi: 10.11648/j.ijcems.20200603.13 ISSN: 2469-8024 (Print); ISSN: 2469-8032 (Online) Epidemiological Description of Chikungunya Virus Outbreak in Dire Dawa Administrative City, Eastern Ethiopia, 2019 Dessalegn Geleta * , Neammin Tesfaye, Habtamu Ayigegn, Abate Waldetensai, Fekadu Gemechu, Hiwot Amare Ethiopian Public Health Institute, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Email address: * Corresponding author To cite this article: Dessalegn Geleta, Neammin Tesfaye, Habtamu Ayigegn, Abate Waldetensai, Fekadu Gemechu, Hiwot Amare. Epidemiological Description of Chikungunya Virus Outbreak in Dire Dawa Administrative City, Eastern Ethiopia, 2019. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Medical Sciences. Vol. 6, No. 3, 2020, pp. 41-45. doi: 10.11648/j.ijcems.20200603.13 Received: May 11, 2020; Accepted: May 28, 2020; Published: June 28, 2020 Abstract: Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) is an arbovirus transmitted to humans by Aedes mosquitoes. It is one of the epidemic vector-borne diseases which has recently re-emerged, mainly in Asian and African continents and has led to a significant global public health problem in these countries. In Ethiopia the Chikungunia outbreak was reported from Dire Dawa Administrative City on July 2019. Therefore this paper is to document and highlight the epidemiology of chikungunia outbreak in Dire Dawa Administrative City. The Data was analyzed from line list collected by Regional Health Bureau from different public and private health sectors during the course of the outbreak, July 29, 2019 to October 20, 2019. Accordingly, the total of 41162 suspected cases of Chikungunia with 16 laboratory confirmed cases were reported from the City Administration. All of the suspected cases fulfill the standard case definition of Chikungunya. The outbreak starts at one kebeles and finally affected whole part of the city. The median age of the patient is 25 years. The overall attack rate of the outbreak was 12.3% with zero case fatality rate. The outbreak affected all age groups and both sexes. However, females are more affected than males with an attack rate of 12.32% and 6.19% for female and male respectively. Higher attack rate was reported from 15 to 44 age group (AR=50.35%). Fever (99.9%), headache (99.4%), joint pain (99.3%) and back pain (87.7%) are the major clinical symptoms observed during the outbreak. Keywords: Chikungunya, Outbreak, Dire Dawa, Ethiopia 1. Introduction Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) is an arbovirus transmitted to humans by Aedes mosquitoes. The virus was first described in 1952 during a febrile illness outbreak in Makonde, a province in southern Tanzania [1]. It is one of the epidemic vector-borne diseases which has recently re-emerged, mainly in Asian and African continents and has led to a significant global public health problem in these countries [3, 4]. Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus are the two Aedes species commonly responsible for transmission [3, 5, 6]. In Africa, the virus is maintained in a sylvatic transmission cycle between non-human primates, small mammals (eg, bats and monkeys), and Aedes mosquitoes [8]. Outbreak of CHIKV is usually associated with heavy rainfall and subsequent spillover of the virus from an enzootic forest cycle to an epizootic savannah or woodland cycle. Rural outbreaks occur when mosquito populations increase in areas where populations of non-immune people are present [11]. Chikungunya infection typically causes fever and severe and persistent joint pain [7]. Other additional symptoms include nausea, vomiting, chills, headaches and rashes. It is rarely a life threatening infection and treatment is mainly symptomatic. Clinical manifestations of CHIKV fever show some overlap with, and must be distinguished from dengue fever, as well as juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, rubella, and