RESUMO
Background: The first major outbreak in Bangladesh was reported in 2008 in Rajshahi and Chapainawabgonj. It then re-emerged in 2013, 2014 and 2015 mostly in Dhaka and other parts of Bangladesh, with a notable outbreak in December 2016 according to a report. This is a statistical report on the data collected from chikungunya patients in some areas of Chittagong in relation to age, gender, location, weather and symptoms of the patients. The aim of the report is to assess the magnitude of the outbreak and an interest to identify the probable socio-environmental factors responsible for chikungunya in Chittagong.Methods: Medical records were collected from well-established diagnostic laboratories, as well as, a limited survey on awareness of chikungunya was conducted from July to December, 2017. There were 188 clinically tested chikungunya cases in both genders ranging from 2-70 years of age.Results: From the total chikungunya cases in the study area it has been found that the highest number of cases (25%) was found in the age group of 41-50 years, almost equally distributed in both genders. The lowest number of cases (5.3%) was from children below 10 years of age with males having only 3 positive cases and females having 7. Amongst the total present study population, 44.4% were suffering from chikungunya.Conclusions: From our study we found that this outbreak took place in Chittagong mainly due to lack of awareness in the population. Educating the general population about its causes, effects, treatment and preventive methods is the best way to prevent future outbreak.