In Iowa, health officials have announced that they have identified the first case of the mosquito-borne Chikungunya virus in the State. A man from the central part of the region has reportedly contracted the virus during his recent travels to the Caribbean. When he came back he was not hospitalized, but is now said to be on his way to recovery.
According to a press release from the Iowa Department of Public Health, they used to be one of only six states in the United States that with no reported cases of the disease, until now. Chikungunya it is often referred to as an "imported case" because most of the individuals that have contracted the virus have been bitten by infected mosquitoes while they were traveling out of state. As of this month, there are almost 700 cases of the virus that have been recorded across the country, with a great percentage of patients reportedly returning from trips from South America or the Caribbean. These regions are known to have local mosquito populations that carry the virus. Currently, there have only been six cases in Florida that been reported as locally transmitted cases of Chikungunya.
IDPH Deputy Epidemiologist, Anne Garvey, said that, "Although it has an exotic sounding name, Chikungunya is not a new virus. It was first described during an outbreak in Tanzania during the 1950s. What concerns public health officials, however, is that the disease is spreading to new parts of the world, including the Caribbean. Since the Caribbean is a popular vacation area, it is likely the number of imported Chikungunya cases into the US will grow as travelers bring the virus home." She noted that even local mosquitoes can become carriers of the virus once they bite and infected individual and potentially spread the disease from one person to another.
The Agency is now urging people across the state to protect themselves against mosquito bites. They also asked to be on the look out for that signs and symptoms of the disease so that people can seek medical treatment right away. Typically, patients infected with Chikungunya real experience fever and joint pain, including swelling of the joints, muscle pain, headache, or localized rashes.