India Pharma Outlook Team | Monday, 14 July 2025
In a significant shift in mosquito-borne disease trends, Chikungunya cases have now surpassed Dengue in Bhopal, raising red flags over possible underreporting and gaps in surveillance.
As of July 2025, the city has continuted to have equally alarming numbers in Chikungunya (51 cases) as opposed to Dengue (45 cases), the complete opposite of the previous pattern.
In more alarming news, the volume of testing has been largely contrasting. Between June and early July there were only 192 tests for Chikungunya, with three positive tests, leading to a positivity of more than 7%. Dengue tests were 546 with an equal number of positive tests leading to a positivity of of 2.5%. These numbers alone suggest under-diagnosis of Chikungunya, especially considering how private labs are leaning toward rapid tests for testing processes and testing that is not part of government data.
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Health experts are expressing concerns that the developing testing patterns will eventually create chronic problems, leaving larger burdens of the disease hidden from view. Last year, there were over 1,300 Chikungunya cases reported among Madhya Pradhesh, and around 4 fold increase from 2023, while testing continued to remain far behind that of states like Maharashtra and Karnataka.
The pattern suggests an urgent need for heightened vector surveillance, increased testing modalities, and reporting in partner with private health care. Without timely interventions, Chikungunya could silently outpace public health responses, undermining control efforts across central India.
