The virus, transmitted by mosquito bites, has stretched across the Indian Ocean, India and Southeast Asia since 2005. Now, it is roaring through the Western Hemisphere. In December 2013, the first locally transmitted case of chikungunya in the Americas was identified on the Caribbean island of St. Martin. As of mid-April, more than 25,000 cases had been reported across the region, from the Dominican Republic down to French Guiana, on the north coast of South America. Public health officials suspect the virus may already be in Puerto Rico, and they predict it will make the leap to the continental United States within months. “There’s nothing to stop this outbreak from continuing to spread,” says Lyle Petersen, director of the division of vector-borne diseases of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Posted on: Mon, 21 Apr 2014 08:24:46 +0000
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