New Delhi, Oct. 3 -- Approximately 5.1 million people in India are at risk of contracting chikungunya, a mosquito-borne viral disease known to cause debilitating, long-term joint pain and disabilities, a new study published in BMJ Global Health has issued a serious warning.
Alarmingly, the study also suggests that the disease could spread beyond current hotspots, potentially increasing the global population at risk to nearly 35 million annually, with 12.1 million in India alone.
This is the first study to employ advanced machine learning techniques to predict chikungunya's future burden by integrating data on infection rates with environmental and socioeconomic factors. These include the presence of Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus mosq...