What is Sindbis fever?

Summary of disease
Sindbis fever is a febrile arthritis caused by infection with the Sindbis virus. Sindbis virus is an arbovirus that is transmitted to humans and other vertebrates via the Culex mosquitoes from birds, their normal reservoir. Sindbis fever occurs in Africa, Oceania and Eurasia.

Symptoms
Sindbis fever is usually self-limiting with an incubation period of 7 days. The most common symptoms are: fever, macula-papular itchy rash, joint pains and malaise. The infection is mostly subclinical, however fatalities have been reported. The symptoms usually resolve within 1 to 2 weeks. Occasionally the joint pains may persist for months or years.

Diagnosis, treatment and prevention
Specialised laboratory diagnostic investigation for Sindbis fever is required to confirm or exclude diagnosis. Typically, the viraemic phase of Sindbis fever are so short and negative RT-PCR results does not exclude the diagnosis of a Sindbis virus infection. Protection against mosquitos is the mainstay of prevention in Sindbis virus prevalent areas. There is no prophylaxis or vaccine to prevent the infection.