This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.
CDC: Chikungunya cases in Americas nearly doubled in 2 weeks
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
As of May 30, there have been 103,018 suspected cases and 4,406 laboratory-confirmed cases of chikungunya virus infection reported in the Caribbean and South America, according to the CDC.
The number of cases almost doubled in the preceding 2 weeks, according to the MMWR report. More than 95% of the cases have been reported in five jurisdictions: Dominican Republic, Martinique, Guadeloupe, Haiti and Saint Martin.
In December, WHO reported the first local transmission of the virus in the Western Hemisphere in Saint Martin. Local transmission has since been identified in 17 countries or territories in the Caribbean and South America. The highest incidence is in Saint Martin, with a rate of 115 cases per 1,000 population. Following that, the highest incidences are in Martinique (76 cases per 1,000), Saint Barthelemy (74 cases per 1,000) and Guadeloupe (52 cases per 1,000).
Other countries in the region with local transmission include Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, British Virgin Islands, Dominica, French Guiana, Guyana, Puerto Rico, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and Sint Maarten.
Although chikungunya is not a nationally notifiable disease in the United States, it can be reported on ArboNET. From 2006 to 2013, there were an average of 28 people per year who tested positive for chikungunya virus, and all were travelers visiting or returning to the United States from affected areas. As of June 2, there have been 28 cases of chikungunya reported to ArboNET this year among travelers returning from the Caribbean.
“Health care providers are encouraged to report suspected chikungunya cases to their state or local health department to facilitate diagnostic testing and mitigate the risk for local transmission,” CDC investigators wrote. “CDC and the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists urge health departments to perform surveillance for chikungunya cases in returning travelers and be aware of the risk for possible local transmission in areas where Aedes species mosquitoes are currently active.”
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts