Chikungunya A New Infection Spreading Faster Than Ebola In America

Its name means “bending over in pain.” It has no treatment or vaccine. Its symptoms resemble Dengue fever. And it has infected more than 1 million people — 155 of them fatally — since spreading to the Americas one year ago.



The mosquito-borne Chikungunya virus has long been diagnosed in travelers returning from countries in Asia and Africa, where the disease is widespread. But in December 2013, the first people infected by mosquitoes local to the region were reported on the Caribbean island of Saint Martin. This was the first outbreak of the debilitating disease in the Western hemisphere, health officials said. Because infection with Chikungunya is rarely fatal, the issue of most concern to officials is the burden on health services and the impact of the debilitating symptoms on the economy.

All countries in Central America have now reported local transmission of Chikungunya [pronounced chik-un-GOON-ya], and the United States had 11 confirmed cases of local infection this year as of December 12, all in the state of Florida. There also have been 1,900 imported cases across the U.S. in returning travelers.

“It wasn’t until 2013 that unfortunately a traveler resulted in local transmission of Chikungunya,” said Erin Staples of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC), referring to the people infected in Saint Martin.


The Chikungunya virus is spread through the bite of the Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus mosquito species, which are local to the Americas

Those infected carry the virus in their bloodstream; it can then be picked up by mosquitoes as they bite, making them carriers. The virus has since spread rapidly and shows no signs of leaving, as ecological conditions are perfect for the disease to flourish.

“We knew it would spread,” said Staples, a medical epidemiologist.

The big question perplexing officials: Why now? After the Recent outbreak of the Ebola Virus, Is this the right time for this to surface?

Source: CNN