Health officials in New York reported a case of chikungunya, a rare mosquito-borne virus, in a 60-year-old woman from Long Island.

The woman hadn’t traveled away from the area, and health officials fear it’s the first-ever locally acquired case of chikungunya in New York.

ABC7 New York shared further details:

She said she was stricken with severe joint pain and she also told the newspaper she had not traveled anywhere recently — which is what makes her case different from others in our area in the past.

“When we normally see dengue or chikungunya in the United States, it’s from someone who’s recently returned from an area where there are infected mosquitoes, so usually in the tropics,” said Dr. Eric Cioe-Pena with Northwell Center for Global Health.

ADVERTISEMENT

But experts say the prolonged warmer temperatures in our area could be a factor.

“The mosquito that normally carries it is now able to live in the northeast of the United States where it previously could not and its cousin is now also able to carry some of these viruses that are all in the same category as yellow fever,” Cioe-Pena said.

The virus is not transmitted person-to person, only by mosquitoes. Its symptoms include fever and chills, but mostly the joint pain the woman described.

“So in most cases, it goes away, in chikungunya in particular, there can be chronic kind of arthritis, chronic inflammation of your joints for months or even years after the infection,” Cioe-Pena said.

In related news, the CDC has issued a Level 2 travel warning for Cuba due to chikungunya.

Previously, the mosquito-borne virus prompted quarantines and restrictions in China.

Fox News reported last month:

Daily Mail noted:

Officials in Cuba have not revealed how many people are infected, but say that the outbreak is focused in Matanzas province, 60 miles east of Havana. There have been no deaths reported so far.

It is not clear what prompted the CDC advisory, but the alert comes just days after US health officials began investigating a possible locally acquired case of chikungunya on Long Island, New York, the first ever detected in the state.

The infection was detected in a woman who said she had not recently traveled off the island, home to more than eight million people and the celebrity-loved Hamptons.

ADVERTISEMENT

And amid a surging outbreak of the disease in South America, with health officials at the Pan American Health Organization warning that Brazil, with 210,000 cases, is among the worst affected.

Globally, more than 317,000 cases and 135 deaths involving the virus have been detected this year, according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, which tracks international figures. In 2024, there were 620,000 cases and 213 deaths.

People can only catch the virus from the bite of a mosquito, and cannot become infected through bodily contact or contact with the saliva of an infected person.

Symptoms emerge about three to seven days after infection, with the most common being a sudden fever. Officials say, however, that about 15 to 35 percent of patients are asymptomatic and do not develop any symptoms.

 

Join The Conversation. Leave a Comment.