Persistent Joint Pain That Won't Quit
The name chikungunya comes from a Makonde word meaning "to become contorted", a description of what prolonged joint pain actually looks like in a person's body. A 2017 study published in the Indian Journal of Medical Research found that nearly 49% of chikungunya patients in India still reported joint pain 20 months after their initial infection. This isn't residual soreness. It meets the clinical criteria for inflammatory arthritis.