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Why chikunguña instead of chikungunya?

Manuel Ramiro-H.,^a Iván Álvarez^a

^aRevista Médica del Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social, Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social, Distrito Federal, México

Communication with: Manuel Ramiro-H.
Email: manuel.ramiroh@gmail.com

Keywords: Editorial policies; journals

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Due to recent outbreaks of chikungunya fever in the southeast of our country, the previous issue of the Revista Médica del Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social published two articles related to this disease.^1,2 Given the emergency that this disease poses to states like Chiapas,³ in this issue we publish the article “Panorama situacional de México ante la pandemia del virus chikunguña” ("Situational overview of Mexico before the pandemic of chikungunya virus").⁴

Now, in our communication with the authors of the two articles there has been some controversy over the spelling we use in our magazine to refer to chikungunya. They have announced to us that the spelling to be used is chikungunya because it is the one used in English and in some Spanish-language publications offered by institutions such as the Pan American Health Organization and the World Health Organization.

Given that of late this disease has been spreading more in Spanish-speaking countries (especially Paraguay,⁵ Bolivia, and Nicaragua,⁶ besides the southeast of Mexico), the use of this word has been entering the imagination of many Spanish speakers. For this reason, institutions such as the Fundación del Español Urgente (Fundéu), which make suggestions about proper uses or examples of the language, offer timely information for speakers to know how to use emerging words, such as the word chikungunya.

Fundéu considers that chikunguña, with ñ, is the appropriate adaptation of the word chikungunya, since the digraph ny is not used in the Spanish language.⁷

The topic of the spelling that we would use in the Revista Médica del Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social to refer to the disease was discussed by the editorial team and the editors. Because of the above arguments, we decided to use chikunguña.

References

1. Espinosa-Larrañaga F, Ramiro H M. ¿Por qué publicar lineamientos técnicos para la prevención y atención de la fiebre del chikunguña? Rev Med Inst Mex Seguro Soc. 2015;53(1):4-5.
2. Barrera-Cruz A, Díaz-Ramos RD, Viniegra-Osorio A, Grajales-Muños C, Dávila-Torres J. Lineamientos técnicos para la prevención y tratamiento de la fiebre de chikunguña. Rev Med Inst Mex Seguro Soc. 2015; 53(1):102-19.
3. Refuerzan plan por chikunguña en Chiapas. La Razón [Internet]. 12 02 2015. [Cited 2015 Feb 13]. Available from http://www.larazonsanluis.com/index.php/agencia-reforma/nacional/item/66357-refuerzan-plan-por-chikunguna-en-chiapas .
4. Martínez-Sánchez A, Martínez-Ramos E, Chávez-Ángeles M. Panorama situacional de México ante la pandemia del virus chikunguña. Rev Med Inst Mex Seguro Soc. 2015;53(2):196-201.
5. Chikunguña: mal se extiende. ABC Color [Internet]. 13 02 2015. [Cited 2015 Feb 13]. Available from http://www.abc.com.py/nacionales/chikunguna-llega-a-luque-e-ypane-1336317.html
6. Nicaragua acumula 3706 casos confirmados de chukinguña. El Mundo [Internet]. 12 02 2015. [Cited 2015 Feb 13]. Available from http://elmundo.com.sv/nicaragua-acumula-3706-casos-confirmados-de-chikunguna/
7. Fundación del Español Urgente (Fundéu). Chikunguña, con minúscula y con eñe. 01 07 2014. [Cited 2014 Dec 19]. Available from http://www.fundeu.es/recomendacion/chikunguna-adaptacion-de-chikungunya/

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