Determination of B cell epitopes and evaluation of antigen capture ELISA for the earlier diagnosis of CHIK virus using anti-rCHIK E1 rabbit antibodies.

Chikungunya fever caused by an alpha virus has been generally considered as self limiting and non fatal. Recent reports on Chikungunya infection indicate high mortality rates due to the severity of the viral infection. For the early diagnosis of CHIK virus, the incubation period required for the development of antibodies in the serum of patients was a constraint for antigen based ELISA.

Recombinant CHIK virus E1 coat protein of 11 KDa with antigenic domains for the detection of Chikungunya.

Chikungunya is an acute febrile illness caused by an alpha virus technically called as CHIK virus. A smaller size of CHIK virus E1 coat protein -11 kDa was expressed in prokaryotic expression system. The recombinant protein was purified and confirmed by western blot analysis.