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Chikungunya virus assumes epidemic proportions

a recent study has thrown light on how the chikungunya virus attained epidemic proportions in the Indian Ocean region since September 2005. A team of researchers at the Institut Pasteur in Paris, has spotted several changes in the genetic makeup of the little-known virus that may have helped it proliferate.

Over the past year, outbreaks of the disease have been reported from several islands, with the worst affected being Reunion Island (of France) where almost one-third of the population has been infected. In India, too, a large number of cases have been reported from several states, the maximum