Chandipura virus (CHPV) is an enveloped RNA virus of the Rhabdoviridae family. It is a rare cause of infectious encephalitis in children, although outbreaks in India in 2003 resulted in the deaths of 322 children. Between June and August 2024, 245 cases of encephalitis were reported from Gujarat and Rajasthan, of which 64 were laboratory-confirmed CHPV infections. This most recent outbreak resulted in 82 deaths with a case fatality rate of 33% (prior outbreaks had mortality rates from 55%-75%).

Historically, this disease affects children younger than age 15 years. Symptoms are typically initially nonspecific with fever, vomiting, muscle pain, diarrhea, and headaches, but neurologic impairment and a lethal autoimmune encephalitis may develop rapidly (within the first 24 hours from symptom onset). Patients can also develop respiratory failure and bleeding diathesis. The case fatality rate in prior outbreaks has ranged from 56%-75%.

CHPV was first described in India in 1965 and is primarily endemic in Central India, although it has been isolated in animals and insect vectors in West Africa as well. It is thought to be vector-borne, with transmission presumed to be through the sandflies Phlebotomus papatasi. The virus has been isolated from sandflies and can be transmitted both vertically and venereally in these insects, although transmission to humans has not been proven. Mosquitoes have not been involved in the transmission of CPHV, but they are capable vectors for the virus under laboratory conditions.

No specific treatments are available, and management is generally supportive and may include management of seizures and cerebral edema in those with encephalitis.