Chikungunya virus loves warm New York winters

[xchrom]

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn21816-chikungunya-virus-loves-warm-new-york-winters.html


An Asian tiger mosquito bite is painful but chikungunya is worse (Image: CDC/Science Photo Library)

Warmer New York winters have a sting in the tail. The mosquito that carries chikungunya, a virus that causes joint pain, but isn't fatal, is flocking to the city in increasing numbers.

The virus, which originates in Africa, is carried by the Asian tiger mosquito (Aedes albopictus) and could become endemic in New York within a few years. Until now the bitter winters have kept mosquito numbers down, says Laura Harrington at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York.

Harrington estimates there is one Asian tiger mosquito for every five New Yorkers. Once that ratio flips to five insects per person, her model suggests that someone arriving in New York carrying the virus would have a 38 per cent chance of passing it on to another person through mosquito bites. The disease could become entrenched in the city at that level of infection, Harrington told the Inside Cornell event in New York City last week.

Isolated cases of chikungunya have already been reported in the US, but just like similar cases that showed up in Europe in 2007, seasonal changes in weather kept mosquito numbers down and the virus in check.

[trotsky]

1. Yikes.

Even here in Minnesota our winter was exceptionally mild this year - and we have plenty of mosquitoes. But ours have been known to carry off small children, so maybe they will muscle out the Asian tiger variety should it make its way here. It's our only hope!

[xchrom]

2. we ave both native mosquitos and the asian variety here in NC.

apparently there is enough blood to go around for both.

[trotsky]

3. Here's hoping for progress on a vaccine.

Given the effects of global warming, I don't think we can rely on a return of harsh winters to help keep things in check.

[xchrom]

4. ...

[Jamastiene]

5. Don't forget the ticks, fleas, leeches, and those big horseflies.

Although, with the horseflies, they don't suck blood. They bite hunks out of us more like the red imported fire ants and army ants and carpenter ants.

I'm surprised anyone is left alive in NC with all the biting, stinging, sucking things that prey on us here.

Out of all those though, only ticks, fleas and mosquitoes cause secondary diseases much of the time. Back when I worked as a dog groomer, my boss got Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever. Another person who worked there ended up with Lyme disease. I guess I was incredibly lucky to not catch anything, because that was half of those who worked there that got sick from the tick bites.

[xchrom]

6. Ticks are GROSS!

You can get them on you taking the dogs out for a walk.

[Jamastiene]

7. I know. I got one on me the other day just going to the car.

For the first time in years, I found a tick on me. I cannot stand them. Something about ticks makes me want to wash and wash and wash. I usually end up taking a shower and washing my hair if I find a tick. I guess my reasoning is that wherever they walked on me or bit can be cleaned if I just wash all over. Plus, it calms my nerves. It's not that I am afraid of ticks. I just think they are so disgusting and nasty that it makes my skin crawl to get one on me.

[emikofierros025]

8. Vaccine Update

is there a vaccine update for chikungunya fever?