New Delhi, Oct 6 (PTI) Conditions such as housing quality, mosquito numbers and response of a community could help in predicting severity of a chikungunya outbreak in a locality, a new analysis of 86 past outbreaks including those in India have found.

The findings published in the journal Science Advances also show that climate conditions -- temperature and rainfall -- are not the most important factor when trying to predict the severity of the infectious disease outbreak, caused by spread of the chikungunya virus through mosquito bites.

Researchers, including those at the University of Notre Dame, US said innovative approaches that look beyond climate factors for predicting an outbreak's severity or spread are required.

Symptoms of the viral infection can include high fever and severe

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