Chikungunya virus : mosquito-borne virus is rapidly spreading in the Caribbean . Currently more than 4,000 confirmed cases of the fast-spreading virus .

• Yahoo News

Newly arrived virus gains foothold in Caribbean

By DAVID McFADDEN  

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FILE- In this undated file photo provided byt he USDA, an aedes aegypti mosquito is shown on human skin. Health officials in the Dominican Republic said this Tuesday April 29, 1014, that the mosquito-borne chikungunya virus has spread widely since making its first appearance in the country. According to the Centers for Disease Control the chikungunya virus is most often spread to people by Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus mosquitoes. These are the same mosquitoes that transmit dengue virus. They bite mostly during the daytime. (AP Photo/USDA, File)

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KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) — A recently arrived mosquito-borne virus that causes an abrupt onset of high fever and intense joint pain is rapidly gaining a foothold in many spots of the Caribbean, health experts said Thursday.

There are currently more than 4,000 confirmed cases of the fast-spreading chikungunya virus in the Caribbean, most of them in the French Caribbean islands of Martinique, Guadeloupe and St. Martin. Another 31,000 suspected cases have been reported across the region of scattered islands.

The often painful illness most commonly found in Asia and Africa was first detected in December in tiny St. Martin. It was the first time that local transmission of chikungunya had been reported in the Americas. Since then, it has spread to nearly a dozen other islands and French Guiana, an overseas department of France on the north shoulder of South America.

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Biological Hazard - British Virgin Islands , Jost Van Dyke : Three cases of the mosquitoborne virus, chikungunya, have been confirmed

Earth Watch Report  -  Biological Hazards

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Chikungunya 101

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RSOE EDIS

RSOE Emergency and Disaster Information Service Budapest, Hungary RSOE EDIS

.......... 2014-01-15 04:27:41 - Biological Hazard - British Virgin Islands EDIS Code: BH-20140115-42291-VGB Date&Time: 2014-01-15 04:27:41 [UTC] Continent: Caribean Sea Country: British Virgin Islands State/Prov.: , Location: , City: Jost Van Dyke Number of infected people: 3 Not confirmed information! Description: Three cases of the mosquitoborne virus, chikungunya, have been confirmed in the British Virgin Islands, according to a Ministry of Health and Social Development news release Monday. "We have confirmed three cases on Jost Van Dyke", said Medical Officer of Health in the Ministry of Health and Social Development, Dr. Ronald Georges. Dr. Georges notes that the three cases were locally acquired. "It is important to note that these confirmed cases were not exposed to travel, which alerts us that the virus is already in our mosquito population," he stated. According to Dr. Georges, the ministry has been coordinating a response with the Environmental Health Division to minimize the impact of Chickungunya. He is reminding the public to take appropriate measures to minimise exposure to mosquitoes. The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) reported late last week, a total of 287 confirmed and probable chikungunya cases in the islands of the French Caribbean. According to a World Health Organization (WHO) Fact Sheet, Chikungunya is a viral disease that is spread by mosquitoes. It causes fever and severe joint pain.Other symptoms include muscle pain, headache, nausea, fatigue and rash. The name of Hazard: Chikungunya Species: Human Status: Confirmed Posted:2014-01-15 04:27:41 [UTC]

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• The Washington Post

Mosquito-borne virus spreading in Caribbean

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, James Gathany, File/Associated Press - FILE - This 2006 file photo made available by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows a female Aedes aegypti mosquito acquiring a blood meal from a human host at the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta. A mosquito-borne virus appears to be spreading quickly in the Caribbean just weeks after epidemiologists first found local transmission occurring in St.

By Associated Press, Published: January 14

KINGSTON, Jamaica — A mosquito-borne virus appears to be spreading quickly in the Caribbean during the winter tourism season just weeks after epidemiologists first found local transmission occurring in the French dependency of St. Martin.
Scientists said Tuesday that St. Martin now has as many as 200 cases of chikungunya, a virus found mainly in Africa and Asia that can cause a debilitating but rarely fatal sickness with fever, rash, fatigue and intense muscle and joint pain.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said new cases have been confirmed on the French Caribbean islands of Martinique, Guadeloupe and St. Barthelemy. The virus also infected a couple of residents of Dutch St. Maarten, which shares an island with St. Martin that was already battling dengue fever, a more serious mosquito-borne illness.

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