Health officials confirmed Thursday that the chikungunya virus has made its way to the U.S., with two people in Florida reported to have contracted the disease.
The two cases were reported in Miami Dade County and in Palm Beach County, according to the New York Daily News. Officials added that the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Florida Department of Health are working together to figure out how the patients caught the virus.
While cases of chikungunya have appeared across the U.S. before, this is the first time that it has been transmitted locally.
"The arrival of the chikungunya virus, first in the tropical Americas and now in the United States, underscores the risks posed by this and other exotic pathogens," said Roger Nasci, chief of CDC's Arboviral Diseases Branch.
Outbreaks of the virus have previously taken place in Africa, Europe, Asia and the Caribbean. Since 2006, there has been an average of 28 important cases of chikungunya in the U.S. each year, and they have all involved the patient catching the disease outside the country. There have been 243 cases of the virus in the U.S. so far this year, and have been reported among 31 states and two territories, the Huffington Post reported.
The only way the virus can be transmitted is through the Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus species of mosquito, which are found both in the southeast U.S. and in some parts of the southwest. Aedes albopictus is also found in the East Coast, the lower Midwest and in the Mid-Atlantic.
Symptoms of chikungunya include fever, joint pain, joint swelling, headache, rash and muscle aches. Despite being able to cause extreme pain in joints, the virus has rarely been reported to kill people. However, it does not have any vaccine or way to be treated, and it is mostly prevented by avoiding mosquito bites
Dr. Anna Likos, a disease control and health protection director in Florida, said people can also keep themselves from contracting the virus by draining standing water, covering their skin with clothes and repellant, and covering doors and windows with screens, the New York Daily News reported.
Those who contract chikungunya experience symptoms within three to seven days, and symptoms usually disappear within a week. Officials expect the virus to behave the same way as the dengue virus does, which has not been reported to have led widespread outbreaks after being brought to the U.S.
"None of the more than 200 imported chikungunya cases between 2006 and 2013 have triggered a local outbreak," the CDC said. "However, more chikungunya-infected travelers coming into the United States increases the likelihood that local chikungunya transmission will occur."
