via Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
A painful mosquito-borne disease is spotted in the Western Hemisphere for first time, boosting U.S. risk
Given a choice between dengue fever or another mosquito-borne disease called chikungunya fever, choose dengue every time. Neither has an available vaccine or treatment, but chikungunya (pronounced chik-un-GUHN-ya) is far more severe – it literally means “that which bends up” because patients are often stooped over from debilitating joint pain.
If you’re a resident of the Caribbean island of St. Martin (or lucky enough to be traveling there for the holidays) you are now at risk of both. The island, roughly the size of Manhattan and located some 300 kilometers east of Puerto Rico, has the first confirmed outbreak of chikungunya in the Western Hemisphere.
As of late last week there were 26 laboratory-confirmed cases of the disease on the island, with over 100 total cases suspected. Chikungunya has been found in both the French and Dutch parts of the island. It has also spread to the nearby island of Martinque, which has two laboratory-confirmed cases. And representatives of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) say that the virus could spread to other Caribbean islands and the surrounding mainland areas in the coming months or years. The outbreak in such a prime spot for tourism also heightens the risk of a future outbreak in the United States.
Disease experts are not sure how the virus got to St. Martin. The patients in St. Martin had not recently left the island, so presumably the virus was locally acquired. The top theory is that a traveler contracted the disease in another region of the world and was then bitten by a local mosquito in St. Martin that went on to infect other people. Another, less likely option is that an infected mosquito traveled to St. Martin, perhaps as a stowaway on a ship or plane. “We know the area has the right mosquitoes to potentially transmit chikungunya, so you could question, ‘why not before now’ or ‘why not a year from now,’” says Erin Staples, an arboviral diseases expert at the CDC. “This just happened to be the right combination of factors,” such as ongoing transmission in other areas and an unlucky bite.
All it takes to spread chikungunya is for a female mosquito to feed twice, first engorging herself on an infected person’s blood and then later biting someone else. But unlike dengue, which is already common in the region and is transmitted via the same Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus mosquitoes, locals do not have any immune protection for chikungunya since it’s new to the area—meaning it could spread quickly.
The Latest on: Chikungunya fever
via Google News
The Latest on: Chikungunya fever
- Chikungunya Virus Threatens the Americas, says Cuban experton February 27, 2021 at 7:11 pm
Latin America is now exposed to a new disease known as Chikungunya virus, as many countries of the region are reporting cases of the virus, which is transmitted by the Aedes aegypti mosquito, said ...
- Health Minister Says No Cases of Zika, Chikungunya nor Yellow Fever Reported in Cuba to Dateon February 26, 2021 at 5:23 pm
Health Minister Roberto Morales Ojeda said that no cases of Zika, Chikungunya nor yellow fever have been reported in Cuba to date, February 17th. Addressing a plenary meeting of the National Union of ...
- Models to predict dengue, Zika and yellow fever outbreaks developed by researcherson February 24, 2021 at 5:07 am
Yellow fever was the first human disease to have a licensed vaccine and has long been considered important to understanding how epidemics break out and should be combated. It was introduced to the ...
- A machine-learning approach to track how yellow fever mosquito moves through the environmenton February 23, 2021 at 4:00 pm
The yellow fever mosquito (Aedes aegypti) is a main vector of deadly diseases like dengue fever, chikungunya, and the Zika virus, which result in hundreds of thousands of deaths worldwide each year.
- Researchers develop models to predict epidemics of yellow fever, other mosquito-borne diseaseson February 23, 2021 at 3:29 pm
an international team of researchers will embark on a groundbreaking study to develop models that predict epidemics of yellow fever and other diseases caused by mosquito-borne arboviruses such as ...
- Models to predict dengue, zika and yellow fever outbreaks are developed by international research groupon February 23, 2021 at 11:45 am
Scientists will monitor areas in which these diseases are endemic, such as São Paulo, the Amazon, the Pantanal and Panama, to investigate the factors that trigger outbreaks.
- Scientists use machine-learning approach to track disease-carrying mosquitoeson February 22, 2021 at 12:01 pm
You might not like mosquitoes, but they like you, says Utah State University biologist Norah Saarman. And where you lead, they will follow.
- Chikungunya Fever Drugs Market Business Opportunities, Current Trends, Market Challenges & Global Industry Analysis2020-2027 By Ameco Researchon February 22, 2021 at 10:14 am
The Global Chikungunya Fever Drugs market research report provides 360-degree information about the respective market with the primary focus on the market definition, drivers, opportunities, ...
- Global Chikungunya Fever Drugs Market Analysis, Growth, Size, Share, Trends, Forecast, Supply Demand and Sales to 2027on February 22, 2021 at 9:27 am
The global “Chikungunya Fever Drugs Market” Report deliver comprehensive analysis of the market structure along ...
- Valneva Initiates Phase 3 Clinical Lot Consistency Study for its Single-Shot Chikungunya Vaccine Candidateon February 22, 2021 at 6:57 am
VLA1553 is a live-attenuated, single dose vaccine candidate for protection against chikungunya disease and currently tested in clinical Phase 3. VLA1553 has been designed by deleting a part of the ...
via Bing News
