Debilitating Virus Infects Island Paradise
See on Scoop.it – Virology and Bioinformatics from Virology.ca
A painful mosquito-borne disease is spotted in the Western Hemisphere for first time, boosting U.S. risk.
Given a choice between dengue fever or another mosquito-borne disease called chikungunya fever, choose dengue every time. Neither has an available vaccine or treatment, but chikungunya (pronounced chik-un-GUHN-ya) is far more severe – it literally means “that which bends up” because patients are often stooped over from debilitating joint pain.
If you’re a resident of the Caribbean island of St. Martin (or lucky enough to be traveling there for the holidays) you are now at risk of both. The island, roughly the size of Manhattan and located some 300 kilometers east of Puerto Rico, has the first confirmed outbreak of chikungunya in the Western Hemisphere.
See on www.scientificamerican.com
