Chandipura virus

Chandipura virus is a member of the Rhabdoviridae family that is associated with an encephalitic illness in humans. It was first identified in 1965 after isolation from the blood of two patients from Chandipura village in Maharashtra state, India (Bhatt et al.,1967) and has been associated with a number of otherwise unexplained outbreaks of encephalitic illness in central India. The most recent occurred in Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra in June-August 2003 with 329 children affected and 183 deaths (Rao et al, 2004). Further sporadic cases and deaths in children were observed in Gujarat state in 2004 (Chadha et al, 2005). Chandipura virus has been isolated from sandflies in India and West Africa (Fontenille et al., 1994) and is probably spread through its bite.