posted on May, 22 2014 @ 04:55 PM
"You feel it in your bones, your fingers and your hands," say the victims of this extremely debilitating, but rarely fatal, virus that is spreading
throughout the Caribbean. The disease is from Africa and Asia where outbreaks have occurred, but since the first Caribbean case was confirmed in
December, there are now thousands of cases and four confirmed cases have now popped up in Florida. The disease is spread by mosquitoes. The symptoms
include searing headaches, burning fever, and so much pain in the hands and feet that a person can barely walk or use their hands. It's like a sudden
onset of arthritis mixed with a bad case of the flu. Doesn't sound like a very fun illness to catch. One 66-year-old lady said that she had never
felt so sick in her entire life.
It's been confirmed that there are 55,000 cases throughout the Caribbean and not only has the disease spread into Florida now but it has also reached
French Guiana, the first South American mainland nation to have cases. I'm not sure how far north or south from the tropics this disease will spread,
but forecasters predict a major surge of the disease this summer.
Those pesty little mosquitoes just got a whole lot pestier.
The two species of mosquitoes that spread chikungunya are found in the southern and eastern United States and the first local transmissions
could occur this summer given the large number of U.S. travelers to the Caribbean, Nasci said. Already, the Florida Department of Health has reported
at least four imported cases from travelers to Haiti, the Dominican Republic and Dominica.
"What we're seeing now is an increase in the number of infected travelers coming from the Caribbean, which is expected because there's a lot of
U.S. travel, a lot of vacation travel, a lot of work travel," he said.
Source
There is some positive news about this horrible disease. It rarely kills and once a person is infected and his immune system clears the disease, the
person recovers and appears to be immuned for life. Once you get the Chick virus, you don't get it again.