@article {Tritschjrheum.190162, author = {Sarah R. Tritsch and Liliana Encinales and Nelly Pacheco and Andres Cadena and Carlos Cure and Elizabeth McMahon and Hugh Watson and Alexandra Porras Ramirez and Alejandro Rico Mendoza and Guangzhao Li and Kunal Khurana and Juan Jose Jaller-Raad and Stella Mejia Castillo and Onaldo Barrios Taborda and Juan Jose Jaller-Char and Lil Avenda{\~n}o Echavez and Dennys Jim{\'e}nez and Andres Gonzalez Coba and Magda Alarcon Gomez and Dores Ariza Orozco and Eyda Bravo and Victor Martinez and Brenda Guerra and Gary Simon and Gary S. Firestein and Aileen Y. Chang}, title = {Chronic Joint Pain 3 Years after Chikungunya Virus Infection Largely Characterized by Relapsing-remitting Symptoms}, elocation-id = {jrheum.190162}, year = {2019}, doi = {10.3899/jrheum.190162}, publisher = {The Journal of Rheumatology}, abstract = {Objective To determine the frequency of chronic joint pain and stiffness 3 years after infection with chikungunya virus (CHIKV) in a Latin American cohort. Methods A cross-sectional followup of 120 patients from an initial cohort of 500 patients who reported joint pain 2 years after infection from the Atl{\'a}ntico Department, Colombia. Patients were clinically diagnosed as having CHIKV during the 2014{\textendash}2015 epidemic, and baseline and followup symptoms at 40 months were evaluated in serologically confirmed cases. Results Of the initial 500 patients enrolled in the study, 482 had serologically confirmed chikungunya infection. From this group, 123 patients reported joint pain 20 months after infection, and 54\% of those patients reported continued joint pain 40 months after infection. Therefore, 1 out of every 8 people who tested serologically positive for CHIKV infection had persistent joint pain 3 years after infection. Participants who followed up in person were predominantly adult (mean {\textpm} SD age 51 {\textpm} 14 yrs) and female (86\%). The most common type of pain reported in these patients at 40 months post-infection was pain with periods of relief and subsequent reoccurrence, and over 75\% reported stiffness after immobility, with 39\% experiencing morning stiffness. Conclusion To our knowledge, this is the first report to describe persistent joint pain and stiffness 40 months after viral infection. The high frequency of chronic disease highlights the need to develop prevention and treatment methods. Further studies should be conducted to understand the similarities between post-chikungunya joint pain and rheumatoid arthritis.}, issn = {0315-162X}, URL = {https://www.jrheum.org/content/early/2019/11/08/jrheum.190162}, eprint = {https://www.jrheum.org/content/early/2019/11/08/jrheum.190162.full.pdf}, journal = {The Journal of Rheumatology} }