{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,13]],"date-time":"2026-07-13T08:10:09Z","timestamp":1783930209419,"version":"3.55.0"},"reference-count":46,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"7","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,11]],"date-time":"2026-07-11T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1783728000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Microorganisms"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Chikungunya virus (CHIKV), traditionally recognized as a mosquito-borne alphavirus that causes febrile illness and debilitating arthralgia, has increasingly been associated with atypical organ involvement, including respiratory manifestations. These observations raise important questions regarding whether respiratory symptoms reflect severe systemic disease or signal previously underappreciated respiratory exposure routes. This review aimed to synthesize current evidence on respiratory complications of CHIKV infection and to evaluate the plausibility of respiratory or aerosol-associated transmission. A systematic literature search of PubMed, EMBASE, and MEDLINE (Ovid) identified five eligible studies spanning clinical virology, outbreak surveillance, epidemiology, and experimental aerosol models. Across human studies conducted in India, R\u00e9union Island, Puerto Rico, and Brazil, respiratory presentations\u2014including pneumonia, dyspnea, and respiratory failure\u2014were uncommon but consistently associated with increased hospitalization and mortality risk. Respiratory symptoms generally arose in the context of respiratory viral coinfections, systemic inflammation, or cardiopulmonary decompensation rather than primary viral tropism for the respiratory tract. Only one non-human primate study directly evaluated aerosol exposure, demonstrating that cynomolgus macaques could be infected via inhaled CHIKV, confirming biological plausibility but showing no evidence of enhanced respiratory pathology. Importantly, no epidemiologic data support human-to-human airborne or droplet transmission. Collectively, available evidence indicates that respiratory involvement serves as a marker of disease severity rather than a transmission route. Nonetheless, rare aerosol-acquisition events in laboratory settings underscore the need for continued vigilance, strengthened surveillance, and re-evaluation of respiratory risks as climate change and viral evolution expand CHIKV\u2019s global footprint.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/microorganisms14071514","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,13]],"date-time":"2026-07-13T07:28:27Z","timestamp":1783927707000},"page":"1514","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Respiratory Transmission Potential of Chikungunya Virus: Integrating Aerosol Stability, Clinical Evidence, and Mechanistic Insights"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"14","author":[{"given":"Tao-An","family":"Chen","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Division of Respiratory Therapy, Department of Chest Medicine, Show Chwan Memorial Hospital, Changhua City 500009, Changhua County, Taiwan"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Sui-Loi","family":"Mak","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Critical Care Medicine, Show Chwan Memorial Hospital, Changhua City 500009, Changhua County, Taiwan"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ya-Ting","family":"Chuang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Surgical Intensive Care Unit, Department of Nursing, Show Chwan Memorial Hospital, Changhua City 500009, Changhua County, Taiwan"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yu-Hsiang","family":"Hsu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Critical Care Medicine, Show Chwan Memorial Hospital, Changhua City 500009, Changhua County, Taiwan"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,11]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"17","DOI":"10.1038\/s41572-023-00429-2","article-title":"Chikungunya fever","volume":"9","author":"Bartholomeeusen","year":"2023","journal-title":"Nat. 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