WHY NOT? CHIKUNGUNYA IS HERE …
Last week the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirmed the first locally acquired cases of Chikungunya – a dangerous new mosquito-borne pathogen. Previously, Chikungunya – which has infected 350,000 people worldwide (leading to 21 deaths) – had been confined to travelers to the United States.
What’s Chikungunya? It’s a Makonde word for “that which bends up,” a reference to the hunched-over contortions of those who contract it. After an initial fever, the disease moves to the joints and limbs – with ill effects lasting for months (and in some cases, years).
What makes this disease scarier than others? The ease with which it can be spread.
“Chikungunya doesn’t need a reservoir—it can be spread directly from one human host to another,” a well-researched post on Slate reveals. “This is in contrast with several other mosquito-borne pathogens, including West Nile virus, which needs to replicate inside a bird before it can pass from a mosquito to a human.”
In other words if an infected mosquito bites you, you’re going to get the disease.
This is especially worrisome given that Tiger mosquitoes – which feed during the day when humans are active – are prime carriers of Chikungunya.
According to the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control (SCDHEC), three cases of the Chikungunya virus have been confirmed in South Carolina in 2014 – all imported. That’s out of an estimated 250 cases nationwide.
“As with all mosquito-borne diseases, prevention and avoiding mosquito bites is the key,” the agency said. “Discussions of ways to prevent the spread of these illnesses, as well as information about the elimination of mosquito breeding grounds, can be found HERE.”
Yeah … might be a good time to buy some bug spray. Or buy stock in companies that manufacture bug spray.
9 comments
Journalism, even bad journalism, requires that you acknowledge/cite the original source of the article. This is simply copied and pasted from the AP or some similar source.
a well-researched post on Slate reveals.
Go Cocks has a PHD in Reading Comprehension from Sakerlina.
the cases contracted it abroad and was diagnosed here
Can anyone tell me how ” Chikungunya” is pronounced? I’m still having problems with the “vuvulva(?)” horn.
“The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down
Of the big lake they call Gitche Gumee “Chikungunya”
The lake, it is said, never gives up her dead
When the skies of November turn gloomy
With a load of iron ore twenty-six thousand tons more
Than the Edmund Fitzgerald weighed empty
That good ship and true was a bone to be chewed
When the gales of November came early”
Since schools were limited on the reservation, all Indian children must go to the high school in town. Laughing Butt was the chief’s favorite daughter. Arriving home from her first day at school, Laughing Butt told her father, “They are making fun of me because of my name. Could you give me a white girl’s name?” Loving his daughter very much but at the same time wanting to maintain his tribe’s traditions, the chief thought about this during the night. The following morning he told Laughing Butt, “You may now be called Gladys!”
Can someone please dump a few around GT’s house?
Shouldn’t that be “bitten?”