Background: The Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) is regarded as a new virus even though it has infected people in the Philippines since the 1960s and has been instigating sporadic outbreaks since. This virus is commonly mistaken for dengue due to similarities in symptoms since they do share similar vectors of transmission, the Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus mosquitoes.
Aims and Objectives: This study is done to determine the prevalence rates of CHIKV in each region of the Philippines and to determine if rainfall and urbanization play a key role in prevalence, as some studies on dengue may suggest.
Materials and Methods: CHIKV data were obtained from the National Epidemiological Center of the Department of Health, 2010 regional levels of urbanization from the National Statistics Office official website and rainfall data from the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration. The collected data were analyzed using STATA v.12.
Results: Results show that nationwide prevalence of CHIKV from January to July of 2012 and 2013 increased by 38.62%. No linear relationship was established between prevalence rates and rainfall per region as well as the level of urbanization. The highest prevalence rates were obtained from regions V, X, and XI for 2012 while regions IV-B, VI, and CARAGA had the highest prevalence for 2013. ARMM had no confirmed cases reported for both years.
Conclusion: There is no correlation between the amount of rainfall and urbanization in the prevalence of CHIKV in the Philippines during the period studied.
Key words: Chikungunya; Prevalence; Rainfall; Urbanization
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