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With Gujarat recording 35 laboratory-confirmed cases of Chandipura virus out of 184 suspected patients tested, with 22 deaths among children under 15, the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare sent a National Joint Outbreak Response Team (NJORT) to the state on August 5 to strengthen the response to the contagion. The team has also been deployed to Rajasthan, which has reported three cases.
The NJORT includes experts from the National Centre for Disease Control, ICMR, and the Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying. It will assist with outbreak investigation, clinical management, laboratory coordination and vector control before submitting recommendations.
Separately, official reports from Jamnagar district paint a more localised picture: Three more children with suspected Chandipura infection died at the district’s GG Hospital this week, taking the toll to nine. However, only one, a child from Dhrol earlier treated in Rajkot, has tested positive so far.
The ministry said the virus mainly affects children and can cause Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES), a rapidly progressing brain inflammation. There is no vaccine or specific treatment yet; care remains supportive, with early hospital referral considered important.
The ministry said sandflies are the established carrier, though scientists are also checking whether mosquitoes, ticks, mites, or animals play a role. It said around 70 animal blood samples are being tested to determine whether the animals could act as reservoirs for the virus.
The current probe draws on the 2024 outbreak, when vector samples tested negative and the carrier was never confirmed. The ministry said genome sequencing is underway at the Gujarat Biotechnology Research Centre in Gandhinagar, with minor genetic differences noted so far.
Doctors’ view
Dr Ramesh Choudhary, a professor of paediatrics at SMS Medical College, said outbreaks are more commonly seen in rural, agrarian areas where livestock are kept close to homes, creating conditions that can favour the spread of the virus.
“Any high-grade fever in the affected area, it must be reaching the hospital or healthcare facility,” he said. He explained that the earliest symptoms of Chandipura virus disease closely resemble those of common seasonal infections, making early reporting important.
Explaining the disease, Dr Choudhary said Chandipura virus disease is not a mystery to doctors, even though there is no specific cure. “It is not true that doctors don’t know or scientists don’t know,” he said, adding that many such diseases are “preventable better rather than treatable.”
He said the illness typically begins with fever and flu-like symptoms but can rapidly progress to altered behaviour and seizures. “Initially it has just constitutional symptoms, high-grade fever, maybe headache, body ache and flu-like symptoms,” he said. “But soon it evolves within 10-12 hours.”
According to Dr Choudhary, the rapid progression to drowsiness, altered behaviour and eventually seizures can alert doctors to the possibility of Chandipura virus disease. However, he noted that the symptoms can overlap with those of other viral illnesses. “Final conclusion is the viral isolation,” he said, referring to laboratory testing.
Dr Choudhary said no drug specifically targets the virus and that treatment remains supportive. Care, including at smaller district hospitals, varies from case to case and can involve seizure control, treatment for raised pressure in the brain, and respiratory or fluid support.
“Vaccine is not available as of now,” he observed.
Dr Choudhary said younger children are disproportionately affected because their immune systems are still developing.
He also linked the pattern of outbreaks to specific rural conditions rather than poverty alone. He said affected areas are typically agrarian regions where animals are reared close to homes.
“That is the breeding spot,” he said, referring to animal dung kept for manure. He also pointed to traditional mud-and-thatch, or “kutcha,” walls common in these areas, saying cracks in such walls can provide additional breeding spots for the insects. This is consistent with the established understanding of sandflies as the primary vector of the virus, according to the Ministry.
Dr Choudhary also said scientists have not ruled out unidentified natural reservoirs of the virus beyond sandflies and mosquitoes, which breed only seasonally.
“It may be because of some unknown reservoirs as well in nature, because the sandfly and mosquito, they breed only seasonally. But the mites and some other animals… may not be causing any symptoms at all in the symptomatic area, so they may be harbouring the virus and transmitting during no outbreaks as well,” he said.
What studies found?
A review published in 2025 in the journal Global Health, Epidemiology and Genomics traced Chandipura virus back to its first identification n Chandipura, Maharashtra, in 1965. The review noted that the disease has resurfaced periodically since, with case fatality rates in past outbreaks reaching as high as 75%.
The review stated that no licensed vaccine or specific antiviral treatment currently exists. However, it noted that antiviral compounds such as ribavirin and favipiravir have shown promise in laboratory and animal studies, with human trials still pending.
It also observed that the disease follows a near-monsoon seasonal pattern linked to sandfly activity. Weak surveillance between outbreaks, the review said, remains one of the key challenges in preventing recurrence.
Despite this, the review struck a measured note on the current risk. “CHPV (Chandipur virus) presently does not pose a serious threat to the people of India,” it stated, while cautioning that future outbreaks remain possible.
