Catching the mosquito-borne virus chikungunya usually leads to fever and severe pain, but a new study shows it may also lead to inflammation in the brain, and even death in some people, CBS News reports.
In the study, researchers looked at an epidemic of the virus on Reunion Island, in the Indian Ocean near Madagascar, that lasted from 2005 to 2006 and sickened 300,000 people. As a result of their infections, 24 people developed encephalitis, which is inflammation of the brain, and four of those people died from their infection.
Encephalitis from the chikungunya virus was most common among babies younger than one and people aged 65 and older, according to the study.
The researchers noted that the encephalitis rates in these groups were "much higher than the rates of encephalitis in the United States in these age categories, even when you add together all the causes of encephalitis," study author Dr. Patrick Gérardin, of Central University Hospital in Saint Pierre, Reunion Island, said in a statement.