Chikungunya virus: Current situation and future challenges

Chikungunya virus (CHIKV), a mosquito-borne alphavirus first identified in Tanzania in 1952, has expanded to more than 100 countries posing increasing global health risks. The 2025 epidemic in Réunion Island and local transmission in Foshan City, Guangdong Province, China, illustrated the growing risk of global dissemination. For primary vectors Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus, their behavioral traits (such as daytime biting, skip oviposition, and multiple-host feeding) substantially increased transmission potential and complicate control. Two vaccines, IXCHIQ® (live-attenuated) and VIMKUNYA^TM (virus-like particle), have been licensed in Europe and the United States, and multiple candidates including inactivated, subunit, viral-vectored, and messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) vaccines are under development. This review summarized current knowledge on CHIKV virology, epidemiology, evolution, vaccines, and vector control, to provide insights for effective management of this re-emerging arboviral threat.