Since the first appearance of local transmission of chikungunya virus in the Caribbean in late December 2013, US health officials have been on continuous watch for the mosquito borne viral infection.
In 2014, the US was hit hard with about 2,800 imported cases and 12 autochthonous cases from Florida.
Since that time, the number of chikungunya cases has dropped precipitously.
How did 2018 look?
According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data through Dec. 11, 2018, a total of 83 chikungunya virus disease cases with illness onset in 2018 have been reported to ArboNET from 22 U.S. states.
California accounted for a quarter of all cases with 21. This is followed by New Jersey (11) and New York (10).
All reported cases occurred in travelers returning from affected areas. No locally-transmitted cases have been reported from U.S. states. The CDC did report one locally transmitted infection in Puerto Rico in 2018.
Related:
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- Jamaica: Dengue fever surpasses epidemic threshold, Gov’t allocates additional money to battle virus
- Panama reports hantavirus increase in Los Santos Province in 2018
- Pakistan reports 100,000 malaria cases in Sindh province in 2018
- Ukraine: 54k measles cases in 2018, Vaccination campaign to start in February
- Infectious disease bric-a-bracs: San Diego wound botulism, HIV in the Philippines
- Virginia rabies death in 2017: Bitten by puppy in Rishikesh, India
