Florida: Disease similar to West Nile may be coming to our area

[Snowy Owl]

Disease similar to West Nile may be coming to Florida

http://www.tcpalm.com/tcp/local_news/article/0,,TCP_16736_5379976,00.html​

By JAMES KIRLEY

Chikungunya sounds like something off the menu of a Creole restaurant.
But it's a painful disease epidemic in Africa and India, and scientists fear it might replace West Nile virus as the newest mosquito-borne disease to threaten America.​

"One thing that West Nile taught us is that exotic viruses can be introduced into this country, become embedded and cause real problems," said Jonathan Day, University of Florida professor of medical entomology.
"The next one in the queue that can be established in this country and cause us problems is chikungunya."

To date, there has been one case of chikungunya fever in Florida.

The disease was discovered in Volusia County, but Day said public health officials determined the stricken person had been infected in Sri Lanka.

The virus is native to Africa. It swept over a number of Indian Ocean islands during 2006 before jumping to India where, according to the New England Journal of Medicine, it caused more then 1.3 million cases.

The Journal reported more than 1,000 cases among people returning to Europe and America from areas where these outbreaks occurred. And unlike West Nile virus, which needs wild birds to multiply and spread, chikungunya fever can be passed directly between people through mosquito bites or close personal contact.

Day said chikungunya fever resembles dengue fever in that it causes painful inflammation of bone joints. The last epidemic of mosquito-borne dengue fever in Florida occurred in 1934 with about 10,000 cases.

Day said the Treasure Coast already is home to two transplanted mosquito species that can spread chikungunya virus.

One is Aedes aegypti.

Day said the mosquito is thought to have arrived in North America from Africa with the slave trade starting in the 1600s. The mosquito spreads yellow fever, a disease that killed about 100,000 Americans before being brought under control in the early 20th Century.

The other is Aedes albopictus, better known as the Asian tiger mosquito, for its stripes. It probably came to the United States in shipments of used truck tires from Japan, said George O'Meara, UF professor of entomology.

Public health response to the threat of chikungunya is now the same as to other established mosquito-borne diseases.

"In Florida, whether it's chikungunya, West Nile or dengue, I think it's important for people to avoid getting bitten by mosquitoes," said Carina Blackmore of the Florida Department of Health.

She said people also regularly should inspect around homes for stagnant water where mosquitoes breed.

Blackmore said anyone who becomes sick after being abroad should tell their physician about their recent travels.

The last African mosquito-borne virus to invade Florida was West Nile virus. Discovered in New York City in 1999, it arrived in the Sunshine State two years later on migrating birds.

The worst year for West Nile in Florida was 2003, when there were 94 confirmed cases, including six deaths. Day said a pattern for West Nile seems to be widespread sporadic infections such as occurred in 2003, followed by an epidemic the next year.

However, the four hurricanes that struck Florida in 2004 could account for the state being spared such an epidemic, he added.

 

[sharon sanders]

Re: Florida: Disease similar to West Nile may be coming to our area

Please refer to our Mosquito Control and Information room regarding data to remediate a mosquito problem.

http://www.flutrackers.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=559


Some of the information is from the University of Florida!
Thank you allowing us to offer these papers here.

All of our information has been used extensively in India, La Reunion, and other areas to assist with the chikungunya pandemic.

FluTrackers has been listed in the Indian Pediatric Journal as a source for chikungunya information.

http://www.indianpediatrics.net/nov2006/1015.pdf


Also, as a personal note - The occurance of 4 hurricanes 3 years ago will not stop either the aedes aegypti or the aedes albopictus mosquitos from multiplying. Aggressive control measures are needed.
</IMG>

 

[Gert van der Hoek]

Re: Florida: Disease similar to West Nile may be coming to our area

New mosquito-borne illness may be headed to United States, UF experts say


on Thursday, April 26, 2007.GAINESVILLE, Fla.

? The next mosquito-borne illness in the United States may be chikungunya (?chicken-GUN-ya?) and despite its odd name the viral disease is no laughing matter, University of Florida experts say.

Though generally not fatal, chikungunya has sickened 1.6 million people in the Indian Ocean region since early 2005 and could be transmitted by two mosquitoes found in the southern United States, said Walter Tabachnick of UF?s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences.

?We are at risk,? he said. ?Based on the outbreak in the Indian Ocean, I think that pushes chikungunya right to the front as far as mosquito-borne diseases we need to watch out for.?

It?s not possible to predict when a U.S. chikungunya outbreak might occur but experts agree on the likely scenario, said Tabachnick, director of the Florida Medical Entomology Laboratory in Vero Beach.

All it takes is an infected person being bitten by an Asian tiger mosquito or a yellow fever mosquito, he said. From there, the virus could be passed to more people, then other mosquitoes.

The name chikungunya comes from a Makonde word meaning ?to become contorted,? Tabachnick said. The name refers to a disease symptom, painful joint inflammation resulting in stooped posture. Others, including fever, headache, vomiting and a rash, usually subside in three to five days, but joint pain can last months or years.

The disease can be fatal to the elderly, young children and people with weak immune systems, he said. An outbreak near Madagascar struck a quarter million and killed nearly 1 percent of those infected.

?Medical professionals should be aware (of the disease),? Tabachnick said. ?One of the first things they should be asking people who come in with those symptoms is, have they traveled??

Chikungunya could be difficult to track because the virus doesn?t infect animals commonly found in the United States, he said. This prevents the use of sentinel animals such as chickens, kept outdoors and tested regularly to monitor for mosquito-borne diseases.

?Since no one is going to routinely test bloods in a surveillance program for the virus, the only way you see it is, first a sick person has to report, then someone?s got to diagnose it,? Tabachnick said.

More than two dozen people in the United States have been diagnosed with chikungunya, but none have passed the disease on to mosquitoes, said Roxanne Connelly, a UF associate professor of entomology.

Researchers are particularly concerned about Florida outbreaks because the state has many international visitors, elderly residents and warm weather conducive to mosquito breeding.

Perhaps the best way to reduce chikungunya risk is to reduce Asian tiger mosquito and yellow fever mosquito populations, Connelly said. Homeowners must play a role because both species can breed in tiny bodies of water, even those the size of a bottle cap.

?Trying to get all the little containers ? and there can be hundreds in one yard ? is not where a mosquito control agency is going to be very effective,? she said. ?So you?re talking about individual homeowner responsibility there.?

To help educate the public, Connelly and Tabachnick helped write a fact sheet about the disease, published this week on the UF/IFAS Extension Digital Information Source system, found at http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/IN696.

Chris Mores, an assistant professor of entomology at the Vero Beach lab, is trying to determine how effectively Florida?s mosquito populations could transmit chikungunya.

Few U.S. universities study chikungunya, partly because funding is scarce, said Stephen Higgs, a pathology professor at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston.

Higgs, who?s studied the disease for several years, said the United States should have been better prepared for the West Nile disease outbreak in 1999.

?There was a tremendous influx of funding for research of vector-borne diseases after the West Nile virus was introduced, but that has diminished,? he said. ?We need to maintain expertise in this country.?

http://news.ufl.edu/2007/04/26/skeeters/