A case of a mosquito-born virus disease recently declared at epidemic levels in Puerto Rico has been confirmed in Florida, health officials say.
It's the first finding of the chikungunya virus in the U.S. in a resident with no recent travel outside of the country, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported.
All other cases of the disease found in the United States -- 243 confirmed so far this year -- have been in people who acquired the virus during foreign travel, the CDC said.
Chikungunya virus is not contagious between people who come in contact; it can only be transmitted by two species of mosquito, both of which are occur in the U.S. and are also recognized as carrying the virus that causes dengue fever.
Although rarely fatal, chikungunya causes debilitating symptoms, the main ones being joint pain and fever, although sufferers can also experience headaches, rashes, muscle aches and swelling of the joints, the CDC says.
First identified in Africa in the 1950s, the virus has since been spreading globally, arriving in the Caribbean last year.
Puerto Rico recently declared an epidemic of the virus, saying more than 200 cases have been confirmed, mostly in the capital of San Juan.
Cases has also been reported in Jamaica.
Health officials in Florida say the arrival of the chikungunya virus in their state -- a second case has been confirmed by the Florida Health Department -- was not a surprise.
"It was just a matter of when," says Steve Smith, head of the Florida Keys Mosquito Control Board. "We are prepared in the Keys and have been prepared for some time to deal with chikungunya
"From what I am seeing, I'm sure there are more cases out there that we don't know about. It's really a matter of time."
Infected travelers returning from abroad bring a significant number of cases into the United States annually, but the Florida case is the first instance when mosquitoes themselves have been suspected of transferring the virus within the country, CDC officials say.
"The arrival of chikungunya virus, first in the tropical Americas and now in the United States, underscores the risks posed by this and other exotic pathogens," says Roger Nasci, head of the agency's Arboviral Diseases Branch. "This emphasizes the importance of CDC's health security initiatives designed to maintain effective surveillance networks, diagnostic laboratories and mosquito control programs both in the United States and around the world."
