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 case was reported Thursday in Florida in a male who had not recently traveled outside the United States. (A second Florida chikungunya case is also is being reported but has not been confirmed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.)
The CDC is working closely with the Florida Department of Health to investigate how the patient contracted the virus. The CDC will also monitor for additional locally acquired U.S. cases in the coming weeks and months.
Chikungunya is characterized by an abrupt onset of fever frequently accompanied by joint pain. Other common signs and symptoms include muscle pain, headache, nausea, fatigue and rash. The joint pain is often very debilitating, but usually lasts for a few days or may be prolonged to weeks. Most patients recover fully.
Since 2006, the United States has averaged 28 imported cases of chikungunya (chik-un-GUHN-ya) per year in travelers returning from countries, particularly Caribbean countries where the spread is rampant. A Williamson County traveler was announced last week as the first Texas case of the virus.
To date this year, 243 travel-associated cases have been reported in 31 states and two territories. 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 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,” said Roger Nasci, Ph.D., chief of CDC’s Arboviral Diseases Branch.
“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,” he said.
The Chikungunya virus is transmitted by Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus mosquitoes, which are commonly found in the southern United States. The virus’s name comes from Tanzania and means “that which bends up.” It describes the appearance of people who are stricken by the virus.