After reporting some 2,500, mostly travel associated chikungunya cases in 2014, the mosquito borne virus continues to be reported in the United States due to international travel (the Caribbean and Latin America) in 2015.
To date in 2015, 25 imported cases from 8 states have been reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Colorado, Florida, Maryland, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, Ohio and Texas have all reported cases as of Feb. 10.
Different from 2014 and earlier is in 2015, chikungunya is a nationally notifiable condition. Cases are reported to CDC by state and local health departments using standard case definitions.
Chikungunya virus is transmitted to people through mosquito bites. Mosquitoes become infected when they feed on a person already infected with the virus. Infected mosquitoes can then spread the virus to other people through bites.
Chikungunya virus is most often spread to people by Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictusmosquitoes. These are the same mosquitoes that transmit dengue virus. They bite mostly during the daytime.
It can cause high fever, join and muscle pain, and headache. Chikungunya does not often result in death, but the joint pain may last for months or years and may become a cause of chronic pain anddisability.
There is no specific treatment for chikungunya infection, nor any vaccine to prevent it.
Prior to 2013, chikungunya virus outbreaks had been identified in countries in Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Indian and Pacific Oceans. In late 2013, the first local transmission of chikungunya virus in the Americas was identified in Caribbean countries and territories.
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