The number of travel-associated infections with the mosquito borne virus, chikungunya, is over 1,800 in the United States this year, compared to an average of 28 imported cases seen annually for the past eight years.
As of November 18, a total of 1,850 chikungunya virus disease cases have been reported to ArboNET from U.S. states. Eleven locally-transmitted cases have been reported from Florida.
Of the 1,839 travel associated cases, 525, or 29 percent of them were reported from New York. The New York State Department of Health Bureau of Communicable Disease Control doesn’t report the countries where the infected traveled. They only note:
Chikungunya, dengue fever, and malaria have been reported in travelers to areas where these diseases are epidemic or endemic. There have not been locally acquired cases of any of these diseases in New York in 2014 to date.
Concerning other mosquito borne diseases in the Empire State, health officials report 21 human cases of West Nile virus, with 2/3’s of the cases from New York City.
Onondaga County in Central New York reported 2 human Eastern Equine Encephalitis cases.
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