Chikungunya Virus in Florida has been making recent headlines. According to NBC News, one man and one woman in Florida have been infected by Chikungunya Virus even though they had not recently traveled. The Chikungunya Virus in Florida was reported Thursday by health officials. This is reportedly the first suggestion of the painful virus having taken up residence in the United States.
According to a report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on July 17, the man and woman Chikungunya Virus in Florida are the first cases of the disease seen in U.S. residents who had not recently traveled outside the country.
NBC News reports the Chikungunya Virus has been spreading rapidly in the Caribbean and Central America recently. The virus has already infected about 350,000 people and has killed 21 already.
Florida health officials said the two cases of the Chikungunya Virus in Florida were of a 41-year-old woman in Miami-Dade County and a 50-year-old man in Palm Beach County.
The CDC said, 'Since 2006, the United States has averaged 28 imported cases of chikungunya (chik-un-GUHN-ya) per year in travelers returning from countries where the virus is common. To date this year, 243 travel-associated cases have been reported in 31 states and two territories.'
The CDC added, 'However, the newly reported case represents the first time that mosquitoes in the continental United States are thought to have spread the virus to a non-traveler. This year, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands reported 121 and two cases of locally acquired chikungunya respectively.'
The two cases of the Chikungunya Virus in Florida are the first known locally-acquired case of the virus. According to the Huffington Post, there have been an average of 28 imported cases in the U.S. each year since 2006. However, these cases are of people who have acquired the virus abroad. So far this year, 243 cases of chikungunya in the U.S. have been reported this year, after it having spread across 31 states and two territories.
The CDC said in a statement, 'Seven months after the mosquito-borne virus chikungunya was recognized in the Western Hemisphere, the first locally acquired case of the disease has surfaced in the continental United States.'
The Huff Post reports that there is no need to fear the Chikungunya Virus in Florida as it cannot be transmitted from person to person. However, the disease can only be transmitted by the Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus species of mosquito, both of which can be found in the southeast U.S. and some parts of the southwest. The Aedes albopictus however can also found in the lower Midwest, in the East Coast and through the Mid-Atlantic. Both mosquito species are known for spreading dengue virus.
Though the Chikungunya Virus in Florida is not deadly, as is other cases of the virus in general, NBC News said it can cause a very bad headache, joint pain, rash and fever.
According to reports, its name in the Makonde language, spoken in Tanzania and Mozambique in Africa means "that which bends up." This is reportedly for the reason that patients are often contorted with pain, which can make them spend weeks in bed, racked with pain.
The Chikungunya Virus in Florida is not to be feared as it rarely kills people, however the debilitating joint pain which it might cause may be hard to endure. There is still no known treatment for or vaccine against the virus, says reports.
The only known prevention of the Chikungunya virus is through avoiding mosquito bites. Guidelines as to the protection from mosquito bites can be viewed in the CDC's guidance here.
NBC said the virus only arrived December in the Western Hemisphere on St. Martin. Though there can be no vaccine against the Chikungunya virus in Florida or any chikungunya in general, the only treatment is rest and pain relief.
Roger Nasci, who heads CDC's Arboviral Diseases Branch said, 'The arrival of chikungunya virus, first in the tropical Americas and now in the United States, underscores the risks posed by this and other exotic pathogens. This emphasizes the importance of CDC's health security initiatives designed to maintain effective surveillance networks, diagnostic laboratories and mosquito control programs both in the United States and around the world.'
After finding the two cases of the Chikungunya virus in Florida, the CDC and the Florida Department of Health are reportedly looking into finding other locally acquired cases.
The CDC said, 'It is not known what course chikungunya will take now in the United States. CDC officials believe chikungunya will behave like dengue virus in the United States, where imported cases have resulted in sporadic local transmission but have not caused widespread outbreaks. Dengue has been seen in Florida and South Texas. None of the more than 200 imported chikungunya cases between 2006 and 2013 have triggered a local outbreak. However, more chikungunya-infected travelers coming into the United States increases the likelihood that local chikungunya transmission will occur.'
Fortunately, people who have been infected are already immune after one infection.
A recent study also suggests that the United States has a bit of time on its side since the strain currently circulating in the Caribbean is the Asian strain, said Scott Weaver of the University of Texas Medical Branch, who has been studying the virus for years.
Chikungunya virus in Florida and other cases in the U.S. are currently being investigated. The Huff Post reports that past outbreaks of chikungunya have also occurred in Africa, Asia and Europe. Since last year, an outbreak has already affected several countries in the Caribbean region.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
