The number of travel associated chikungunya cases in the state of Florida has topped the 400 mark, making the Sunshine State only the second to eclipse that number, New York being the other.
With the addition of 14 new travel associated cases reported the week ending Dec. 6, Florida now reports 406 cases. In addition to the imported cases, Florida has also reported 11 locally acquired cases, the only such cases in the United States.
The top countries of origin for the travel associated infections, in order, include Haiti, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic and Jamaica, accounting for 86 percent of the cases.
As of December 2, a total of 1,911 chikungunya virus disease cases have been reported to the CDC ArboNET from U.S. states, including the eleven locally-transmitted cases have been reported from Florida.
New York State reported 533 cases as of Dec. 2., the most in the country.
From 2006‒2013, studies identified an average of 28 people per year in the United States with positive tests for recent chikungunya virus infection (Range 5‒65 per year). All were travelers visiting or returning to the United States from affected areas, mostly in Asia.
In total in the Americas, the number of local transmission cases of chikungunya stands at 975,678 suspected and confirmed cases since the virus was first detected on the Caribbean Island of St. Martin one year ago.
