The chikungunya virus is steadily making its way across the U.S. as the newest mosquito-borne disease has now hit Rhode Island, Tennessee, North Carolina and Florida as the weekend arrived.
News reports claim Tennessee officials confirmed the state's first case Saturday as a Madison County resident tested positive for the non-fatal virus. Officials state there is no evidence that the virus is spreading from residents to other residents and no transmission incidents have been noted.
"It will be more difficult for the virus to establish itself here," said Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious disease specialist at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tenn.
As Tech Times reported Friday, the Pan American Health Organization is reporting that most of the new cases stem from Latin regions of the Caribbean, with Guadeloupe, Martinique and part of Saint Martin also included. The number of suspected related deaths is at 14.
Tennessee officials say multiple residents who have traveled to the Caribbean are showing signs of the illness that is spread by daytime-biting mosquitoes. Symptoms, which typically show up three to seven days after being bit, include headache, chills, fever, sensitivity to light, rash, vomiting and severe joint pain.
Some officials are predicting the virus will become as prevalent as the mosquito-transmitted West Nile virus as it's already beat earlier annual reports in the U.S. with 41 reported cases this year. All reports are related to U.S. citizens who traveled to Caribbean nations.
According to one report, the virus has rapidly spread in the Caribbean in recent months, infecting thousands.
Florida is the hardest hit as yet, with 25 reported cases, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which is tracking the virus across many states between California and New York, as well as the Virgin Islands.
According to the Caribbean Public Health Agency, confirmed and suspected cases have hit 135,651, a big spike since the count on June 2 of 100,000. News reports say the virus has been confirmed in 20 countries and the biggest outbreak of suspected infections is in the Dominican Republic.
