Mosquito Virus That Walloped Caribbean Spreads in U.S.

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Bloomberg News

Mosquito Virus That Walloped Caribbean Spreads in U.S.
By Kelly Gilblom Sep 30, 2014 2:47 PM CT

mosquito-borne virus that can cause debilitating joint pain lasting for years has spread to the continental U.S. after infecting hundreds of thousands of people in the Caribbean and Central America.

The virus is called Chikungunya, an African name meaning “to become contorted.” While the illness, first identified in Tanzania in 1952, has long bedeviled Africa and Asia, the only recorded cases in the U.S. before July involved patients who contracted the virus abroad.

Now, 11 cases have been confirmed as originating in Florida, spurring concern this may be the beginning of the type of explosive growth seen elsewhere from a disease that has no vaccine or cure. Medical and environmental experts are debating how best to quell the outbreak before it takes off.

“In a way it’s surprising it hasn’t been here yet,” said Scott Weaver, a professor at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston.

Patients who contract Chikungunya have joint swelling and pain, fever, headache and rash for about a week, though some symptoms last months or years in some patients, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-09-30/mosquito-virus-spreading-in-u-s-that-walloped-caribbean.html

[ReRe]

1. What's worse?

... The bug goop we spray all over ourselves when we go outdoors, or mosquito-borne or tick-borne viruses/diseases? I think I'll stick with the insect-repellant. Thanks for this info, Judi Lynn.

[Lochloosa]

2. Cutters is my choice here in Florida.

[840high]

6. Yes. Cutter Natural.

[Bragi]

9. Anything with deet works.

My understanding is that deet has been much researched, and has never been associated with any malady ever, anywhere. True or false?

[840high]

11. I avoid it.

[Bragi]

14. Why? It's effective and poses no hazard. /nt

[840high]

16. I prefer not to use it.

[Dollface]

3. Not to mention that this isn't your grandpa's bug spray

SO much better today as to oily, stinky stickiness.

[ReRe]

4. You're right...

Comes in all kinds of media... like a bracelet, or a little clip-on dilly you attach to a pocket or waistband. Goopless!

[defacto7]

5. In actuality it's the mosquito that has spread.

There's a particular mosquito that carries the virus, the A. albopictus and A. aegypti. The aegypti is the one that is spreading here and some are carrying the Chikungunya virus. Deal with the mosquitoes with mosquito dunks. They have a natural bacteria toxic only to mosquito larvae called BTI. You have to get the dunks with BTI. It just kills the larvae so they can't spread. Perfectly harmless to everything else (except gypsy moth larvae I think).

If we don't stop the mosquito we won't stop the spread of the disease. The good thing is the mosquito is not happy in cold climates. I'm not sure how cold but we have those mosquitoes in Utah now.

[loudsue]

7. Now THAT is pretty scary. Mosquitos have been all over North Carolina

this summer...much worse than the last few summers, because we've had so much rain.

[happyslug]

8. The Mosquito that spreads this only entered the US in 1985

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chikungunya

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aedes_albopictus

IT is now from Texas to Maine:

Asian tiger mosquitoes were first found in North America in a shipment of used tires at the port of Houston in 1985. Since then they have spread across southern USA, and as far up the East Coast as Maine.[38] This species is an introduced species in Hawaii as well, but has been there since before 1986.

This mosquito is BAD:

The tiger mosquito is also relevant to veterinary medicine. For example, tiger mosquitoes are transmitters of Dirofilaria immitis, a parasitic round worm that causes heartworm in dogs and cats

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aedes_albopictus

Now the "Yellow Fever" mosquito can also spread this disease, but it is restricted to Florida and the Gulf coast:


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aedes_aegypti

[Bragi]

10. Glad it stops abruptly at the Canadian border

How lucky we are!

[loudsue]

13. Canadians are lucky for a great many reasons!

You folks know how to do a lot of good things.

[NickB79]

17. Give it a few years, they're coming

Climate change pretty much guarantees it at this point.

[truthisfreedom]

12. Off makes a machine that clips at your waist

It uses two batteries to drive a fan that blows a chemical into the air that very effectively keeps mosquitos at bay, especially when combined with deet.

[Bragi]

15. The problem is wind

If you're in any kind of breeze, or moving avoid, it doesn't work well. The deet works, of course.