Chikungunya Spreading to Australia

[Sally Furniss]

Re: Chikungunya Spreading to Australia

Fears over new mosquito-borne virus


<!-- <div id="article">--> <!----> 26th July 2008, 11:30 WST <!---->
<table align="right" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="310"> <tbody> <tr> <td> <!-- begin Content News Wa ad --> <script language="JavaScript" type="text/javascript"> document.write('<script language="JavaScript" src="http://ad.au.doubleclick.net/adj/news/_default;tile=5;sz=728x90;ord=' + ord + '?" type="text/javascript"><\/script>'); </script><script language="JavaScript" src="http://ad.au.doubleclick.net/adj/news/_default;tile=5;sz=728x90;ord=7479241972393034?" type="text/javascript"></script><noscript></noscript> <!-- End ad -->
</td></tr></tbody></table>Health experts fear a mosquito-borne virus could cause a spike in cases of a debilitating disease which is more serious than Ross River virus and has already found its way into WA from people infected overseas.

In the past two years, WA health authorities have been notified of 15 cases of chikungunya, the Swahili term for the stooped posture which the virus causes in sufferers with joint pain. The disease also causes vomiting, extreme fatigue and, in rare cases, death.

The Health Department declared chikungunya a notifiable infectious disease two months ago.

http://www.thewest.com.au/default.aspx?MenuID=2&ContentID=87181

[Ronan Kelly]

Re: Chikungunya Spreading to Australia

Floodwaters spark mosquito disease fears
By Emily Bourke for AM

Posted Thu Jan 7, 2010 8:22am AEDT
Updated Thu Jan 7, 2010 8:56am AEDT

About 300 rural properties are still cut off by floodwaters in inland New South Wales and authorities are now worried about an outbreak of mosquito-borne diseases.

Emergency aircraft are helping with supplies and medical support as well as stock movement and fodder drops to isolated rural properties.

But an explosion in mosquito numbers has locals and government authorities worried about an outbreak of Ross River fever and other mosquito-borne diseases.

For Coonamble residents like Daphne Cooper, who lost part of her roof in the heavy storms, the wet has brought another annoyance: mosquitoes.

"They're big grey ones and you walk outside and they cover all of your arms and your legs and they come in on your back - everybody is complaining about them," she said.

Barry Nelson, who runs the Terminus Hotel in Coonamble, says the town always has mosquitos but they have never been this big.

"People have been talking about the town running out of Aeroguard," he said.


Disease outbreak likely

The medical officer for the Greater Western Area Health Service, Tony Brown, says an outbreak of Ross River fever is likely.

"We've had the rain, we've had the water, we've had the mosquitoes starting to breed and people getting bitten," he said.

"It takes a little bit longer, but I would expect there is a possibility from now on that we might see some Ross River fever.

"Ross River won't affect everybody because in a number of communities people have already had it. But there will be some people who do get it."

The mosquitoes have numbers on their side and there is little officials can do.

"Widespread spraying is probably not an option in the short term - it takes a little bit of organising to get that there," Dr Brown said.

"We're talking about areas in flood and access is not a simple matter."

There is also growing alarm about another mosquito-borne illness, the Chikungunya virus, which is found in Europe, Africa, Asia and the Pacific.

The director for the Centre for Biomedical and Forensic Research at Canberra University, Professor Suresh Mahalingam, says Chikungunya is more serious than Ross River.

"It's more severe in terms of the debilitating nature of the disease because people who come up with this Chikungunya infection have difficulty standing up straight, their joints are affected badly and they will be bedridden for months," Professor Mahalingam said.

"So far [there have been no cases in Australia] but we've had people who visited other places like Indonesia, Thailand and India; they come back and then later they do some tests and they have actually contracted this virus."

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/01/07/2787089.htm