A painful mosquito-borne illness is sweeping the Caribbean.
Chikungunya is more commonly seen in Africa and Asia, but five months ago it was detected in the Caribbean, Reuters reported.
The illness, which causes symptoms such as painful joints and high fevers, has spread across several islands in the region.
"These mosquitoes know no borders," Phyllis Kozarsky, a physician with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, told Reuters.
Seven deaths have occurred in people who contracted the virus, but they may have had other health problems that caused them to have a more serious reaction. So far there have been over 55,000 suspected and confirmed cases.
There have been at least three cases in the state of Florida and 5,500 people in Haiti have fallen ill.
"My 22-year-old son is brave, but now he's crying like a kid. His arms, his neck, his back, every part of his body is in pain," Marco Dorival of Port-au-Prince told Reuters.
There is currently no treatment for the illness, but Paracetamol can be prescribe to treat high fevers and associated pain.
Even this medicine could be hard to come by in places such as Haiti so the ministry of health ordered 400,000 doses of acetaminophen to be distributed throughout the country.
The spread of the illness does not show signs of slowing down anytime soon. Many homes in Haiti contain open water containers due to a lack of running water; this can act as a breeding ground for mosquitos carrying the illness.
"Thirty to 35 percent of the population will get sick," WHO representative Dr. Jean-Luc Poncelet told Reuters.
Haiti and the Dominican Republic plan to spray pesticides in hopes of combating the spread of chikungunya.
"There was a period of time that I couldn't walk, and when I could walk again I was bent over," Richard Barbour, a pastor at Advent Lutheran church in Boca Raton, Florida, told Reuters.
Barbour may have contracted the painful disease during a trip he took to Haiti last week.
