What began with just 10 confirmed cases of the chikungunya virus on the French side of St. Martin last month has quickly spiraled into a much larger outbreak with nearly 300 confirmed cases spanning the Caribbean from Martinique to the British Virgin Islands.
With more than 200 “probable or confirmed cases,” St. Martin remains the epicenter of the outbreak, though there have been four-dozen more cases on Martinique and another two-dozen on Saint Barts, according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. Health officials in Dominica, Guadeloupe and French Guiana also reported cases of chikungunya virus, which can cause severe joint pain, fever and headaches. The case in French Guiana is of particular concern because it could mean that the virus has reached the South American mainland.
More than 100 laboratory-confirmed cases of chikungunya were identified in the United States between 1995 and 2009, but none of the infected contracted the disease in the Western Hemisphere. All but three of the cases occurred between 2006 and 2009 with travelers to India and Indian Ocean Islands, where there were large outbreaks of the disease.
While outbreaks of chikungunya have been documented across Africa, Europe, Asia and the Pacific, the cases in the Caribbean mark the first time the disease has been reported among non-travelers in the Western Hemisphere, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention noted in a warning issued last month. It said the affected St. Martin residents had not traveled abroad recently, suggesting that the chikungunya virus was present in island populations of mosquitoes and being spread locally.
in terms of remembering all the shyt happening at once. it's like 900 pages shorter but so much harder to follow
. Mou, Wenger, Del Bosque
