Via NewsChannel5.com, an Associated Press report datelined Frankfort: Kentucky Confirms First Case Of Chikungunya. Excerpt:
State health officials have confirmed Kentucky's first case of a nonfatal mosquito-borne virus prevalent in the Caribbean, Africa and Asia.
The Kentucky Department for Public Health says it has confirmed the chikungunya virus, or CHIKV, in an Anderson County man who recently traveled to Haiti. Officials expect at least nine other Kentuckians who recently traveled in the same region may also have the virus.
The virus can only spread to humans if an infected mosquito bites someone. It cannot spread human to human. Symptoms include high fever, chills, joint pain and a rash that can last up four days.
State health officials said the virus could become more prevalent in Kentucky because the state is home to both species of mosquitoes that can carry the virus.
I'm seeing more of these "first case" reports than I'm posting. These are still imported cases (with serious implications for Caribbean tourism), and no one's really too concerned.
But as this report notes, both mosquito species that carry chikungunya are found in Kentucky. When autochthonous cases start turning up, we'll see much more attention paid to chikungunya.
