Chikungunya Style
September 23, 2014 3:54 PM Subscribe
The other epidemic. From 2006 to 2013, the United States had an average of 28 cases per annum of chikungunya, a viral disease. So far, this year, there have been 1052. Once confined to Africa and Southeast Asia, localized outbreaks have appeared in Italy, other parts of Europe, and the Americas. Although the first known locally acquired case appeared in the Caribbean in 2013, it has achieved epidemic levels with an estimated 738000 cases.
A mosquito-borne disease, the symptoms are akin to a severe fever with joint aches. It is seldom fatal but its symptoms can last several weeks.
A mosquito-borne disease, the symptoms are akin to a severe fever with joint aches. It is seldom fatal but its symptoms can last several weeks.
On a personal note, I can attest for the fact that the genie is out of the bottle on this one. In Puerto Rico, I personally know about a dozen people who have had chikungunya (all these last few months). It has made a toe-hold in the US and that is probably good enough for it to spread.
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 3:57 PM on September 23, 2014
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 3:57 PM on September 23, 2014
I propose that we stop the ever-increasing reach of these mosquito-borne disease by making the planet's climate cooler, pull back the range of the mosquitoes!
What? You say we're not going to do that? Our official policy is actually to go the other way and make the planet hotter as fast as we possibly can?! Well... shit.
Is there some way I can invest so as to place my bets on a new era of mosquito diseases in America then?
posted by anonymisc at 4:05 PM on September 23, 2014 [11 favorites]
What? You say we're not going to do that? Our official policy is actually to go the other way and make the planet hotter as fast as we possibly can?! Well... shit.
Is there some way I can invest so as to place my bets on a new era of mosquito diseases in America then?
posted by anonymisc at 4:05 PM on September 23, 2014 [11 favorites]
I take it you've never been to the Arctic?
posted by fshgrl at 4:26 PM on September 23, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by fshgrl at 4:26 PM on September 23, 2014 [2 favorites]
Not a lot of tropical diseases in the Arctic. Yet. But rest assured - we're working day and night to fix that oversight! :)
posted by anonymisc at 4:35 PM on September 23, 2014 [8 favorites]
posted by anonymisc at 4:35 PM on September 23, 2014 [8 favorites]
Lots of mosquitoes in the arctic, though.
posted by dhruva at 4:58 PM on September 23, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by dhruva at 4:58 PM on September 23, 2014 [1 favorite]
Isn't the difference with this one that it doesn't make you vomit out your lungs? That seems a relevant difference.
posted by Sebmojo at 5:00 PM on September 23, 2014 [6 favorites]
posted by Sebmojo at 5:00 PM on September 23, 2014 [6 favorites]
Ironically I'm guessing the emergence of malaria along the Gulf Coast is what it's really going to take to pour money into malaria research. I live in east Texas and I'm not looking forward to this disease rearing its head.
posted by crapmatic at 5:07 PM on September 23, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by crapmatic at 5:07 PM on September 23, 2014 [2 favorites]
The wiki article about the spread of the Chikungunya-carrying mosquito Aedes albopictus is also pretty scary, and the article says it's one of the "100 worst invasive species". Basically it adapts to temperate climates, feeds during the day, and bites multiple hosts and multiple times to get a meal, making it an ideal vector for a number of diseases.
posted by sneebler at 5:38 PM on September 23, 2014
posted by sneebler at 5:38 PM on September 23, 2014
This is why I'm glad I live in Oregon: no cockroachs, no malaria, no tropical diseases, no fire ants, no africanized honey bees, no shortage of fresh water...
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 5:43 PM on September 23, 2014 [4 favorites]
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 5:43 PM on September 23, 2014 [4 favorites]
I am definitely going to drop an infected zombie in Oregon.
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 5:51 PM on September 23, 2014 [7 favorites]
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 5:51 PM on September 23, 2014 [7 favorites]
This is why I'm glad I live in Oregon: no cockroachs, no malaria, no tropical diseases, no fire ants, no africanized honey bees, no shortage of fresh water...
Yet...
(But seriously, does Oregon really not have cockroaches?)
posted by drezdn at 6:01 PM on September 23, 2014
Yet...
(But seriously, does Oregon really not have cockroaches?)
posted by drezdn at 6:01 PM on September 23, 2014
OK, I have to confess that whenever I see the word chikungunya, it makes me think of the Sandra Lee-style meals my mother used to put together while I was growing up. Having served as an Army nurse in Vietnam, she had learned about tropical diseases such as chikungunya and o'nyong-nyong and in her mind this somehow morphed into the name of a meal for us kids that, as I recall, consisted of rice-a-roni, water chestnuts, canned chicken, and I guess whatever else could be scrounged from the fridge and/or pantry. I keep hearing the news about this horrible tropical virus and my brain centers activate and I start smelling the savory scent of rice-a-roni sauteeing and my mouth starts watering.
I don't recall her ever making o'nyong-nyong though.
posted by Hal Mumkin at 6:13 PM on September 23, 2014 [9 favorites]
I don't recall her ever making o'nyong-nyong though.
posted by Hal Mumkin at 6:13 PM on September 23, 2014 [9 favorites]
I bet her ebola pie was the best.
posted by Halloween Jack at 6:42 PM on September 23, 2014 [9 favorites]
posted by Halloween Jack at 6:42 PM on September 23, 2014 [9 favorites]
I would bet the numbers of people with the illness are actually a lot higher. I live in the Virgin Islands & know many people who have had it. They don't go to the clinic because many people here don't have health insurance & the test to detect the virus costs money. And there's really nothing they can do for you besides tell you to take Tylenol. So there are many, many unreported cases. It's bad here. I don't usually spray myself with deet, but when I do... it's because I don't want this!
posted by Bohemian Sailor at 7:51 PM on September 23, 2014 [3 favorites]
posted by Bohemian Sailor at 7:51 PM on September 23, 2014 [3 favorites]
That last link requires a login, btw.
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 8:10 PM on September 23, 2014
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 8:10 PM on September 23, 2014
Re: mosquitoes. I've lived as far north as 56.8044° and as far south as 29.9011°. That doesn't sound like a broad range but it's the difference between SE Alaska and the swamp south of New Orleans.
The mosquitoes are more numerous in Alaska - as are all biting bugs.
However, it's colder in Alaska so you are more likely to be clothed which exposes less biteable surface as opposed to if you live in a warmer climate. And in Alaska there is a winter where the biters are entirely absent.
Insect borne diseases are more easily transferred where the insect population doesn't have an annual die-off.
I will continue my study re: the effects of my BAL on the flight and the aerodynamics of mosquitoes who sucked my blood, their breeding success, and my subsequent reaction time. If I can somehow manage to not kill the little fucker.
posted by vapidave at 8:40 PM on September 23, 2014 [2 favorites]
The mosquitoes are more numerous in Alaska - as are all biting bugs.
However, it's colder in Alaska so you are more likely to be clothed which exposes less biteable surface as opposed to if you live in a warmer climate. And in Alaska there is a winter where the biters are entirely absent.
Insect borne diseases are more easily transferred where the insect population doesn't have an annual die-off.
I will continue my study re: the effects of my BAL on the flight and the aerodynamics of mosquitoes who sucked my blood, their breeding success, and my subsequent reaction time. If I can somehow manage to not kill the little fucker.
posted by vapidave at 8:40 PM on September 23, 2014 [2 favorites]
vapidave, I am also doing my best to impair the little shits. While I have no control over them prior to our encounter, I am fairly certain that their proboscis is relatively sterile and their motility is significantly compromised after they have dined upon my finely curated blood.
posted by yesster at 9:15 PM on September 23, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by yesster at 9:15 PM on September 23, 2014 [1 favorite]
They don't always drink once, dammit. It's interesting and scary too. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosquito#Egg_development_and_blood_digestion
It's understood seen proven that mosquitoes don't pass along AIDS as a blood meal passes through the digestive tract and the virus is digested. Somehow mosquitoes pass along the Malaria virus via a similar mechanism. I don't understand why one needle can transfer a virus and another cant.
posted by vapidave at 9:36 PM on September 23, 2014
It's understood seen proven that mosquitoes don't pass along AIDS as a blood meal passes through the digestive tract and the virus is digested. Somehow mosquitoes pass along the Malaria virus via a similar mechanism. I don't understand why one needle can transfer a virus and another cant.
posted by vapidave at 9:36 PM on September 23, 2014
Oh, we have cockroaches in Oregon. Just not the big bold ones you see in the south.
We have discreet little guys that nest on the wall behind your seldom moved refrigerator or in that
waffle iron in the bottom cupboard that you haven't gotten out in 10 years. They sneak out in the wee hours when its dark and party till dawn.
posted by quazichimp at 10:20 PM on September 23, 2014
We have discreet little guys that nest on the wall behind your seldom moved refrigerator or in that
waffle iron in the bottom cupboard that you haven't gotten out in 10 years. They sneak out in the wee hours when its dark and party till dawn.
posted by quazichimp at 10:20 PM on September 23, 2014
Well for starters Dave, malaria ain't a virus.
posted by hobo gitano de queretaro at 10:33 PM on September 23, 2014 [7 favorites]
posted by hobo gitano de queretaro at 10:33 PM on September 23, 2014 [7 favorites]
vapidave: "I will continue my study re: the effects of my BAL on the flight and the aerodynamics of mosquitoes who sucked my blood, their breeding success, and my subsequent reaction time. If I can somehow manage to not kill the little fucker."
While I've done nothing as ambitious as that, I remember a time in my late teens when I felt one of those little fuckers on my left forearm. I looked down and, sure enough, it was right where I felt it. For some reason I can't quite recall, I just sat there and watched the little insect witch gorge on a feast of my blood. When she was apparently filled to max capacity, she tried to take off and looked a lot like a really overloaded helicopter that could barely get airborne. She eventually got aloft, but was so overloaded that she was flying very slowly upward. At that point, I squished her with a kind of clapping motion. I then looked at my palms and saw that they were almost fully coated in a thin coat of my blood. I thought it was a cool little experiment.
posted by InsertNiftyNameHere at 10:51 PM on September 23, 2014 [1 favorite]
While I've done nothing as ambitious as that, I remember a time in my late teens when I felt one of those little fuckers on my left forearm. I looked down and, sure enough, it was right where I felt it. For some reason I can't quite recall, I just sat there and watched the little insect witch gorge on a feast of my blood. When she was apparently filled to max capacity, she tried to take off and looked a lot like a really overloaded helicopter that could barely get airborne. She eventually got aloft, but was so overloaded that she was flying very slowly upward. At that point, I squished her with a kind of clapping motion. I then looked at my palms and saw that they were almost fully coated in a thin coat of my blood. I thought it was a cool little experiment.
posted by InsertNiftyNameHere at 10:51 PM on September 23, 2014 [1 favorite]
Bohemian Soldier:
I would swear the numbers are a lot higher, also. In the Dominican Republic, confirmed cases: 84. Suspected cases: 486,306.
I would guess one in twenty people in Puerto Rico have had the infection in the last two months.
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 3:55 AM on September 24, 2014 [1 favorite]
I would swear the numbers are a lot higher, also. In the Dominican Republic, confirmed cases: 84. Suspected cases: 486,306.
I would guess one in twenty people in Puerto Rico have had the infection in the last two months.
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 3:55 AM on September 24, 2014 [1 favorite]
European residents may find this paper Suitability of European climate for the Asian tiger mosquito Aedes albopictus: recent trends and future scenarios from the Royal Society of interest.
Our delightful new friend can "experimentally transmit numerous viruses, including those that cause West Nile fever, yellow fever, St Louis encephalitis, Japanese encephalitis, dengue fever, Rift Valley fever and chikungunya fever, among others. It is also the vector of Dirofilaria immitis, a parasitic round worm that causes heartworm in dogs, and less frequently in cats, wolves, foxes and coyotes "
Heartworm. Mmm.
So far, it's limited almost entirely to the Mediterranean basin... but "The species has also been sporadically observed in several used-tyre storage centres in northern France, Belgium and The Netherlands (here, also in greenhouses) since 1999, as well as on parking areas in southwestern Germany near the French/Swiss border (2007 and 2011). In most of these locations, the mosquito has not established or has been eliminated (elimination is ongoing in The Netherlands)."
Here is a handy real estate company that specialises in Orkney properties.
posted by Devonian at 4:43 AM on September 24, 2014 [2 favorites]
Our delightful new friend can "experimentally transmit numerous viruses, including those that cause West Nile fever, yellow fever, St Louis encephalitis, Japanese encephalitis, dengue fever, Rift Valley fever and chikungunya fever, among others. It is also the vector of Dirofilaria immitis, a parasitic round worm that causes heartworm in dogs, and less frequently in cats, wolves, foxes and coyotes "
Heartworm. Mmm.
So far, it's limited almost entirely to the Mediterranean basin... but "The species has also been sporadically observed in several used-tyre storage centres in northern France, Belgium and The Netherlands (here, also in greenhouses) since 1999, as well as on parking areas in southwestern Germany near the French/Swiss border (2007 and 2011). In most of these locations, the mosquito has not established or has been eliminated (elimination is ongoing in The Netherlands)."
Here is a handy real estate company that specialises in Orkney properties.
posted by Devonian at 4:43 AM on September 24, 2014 [2 favorites]
Chikungunya, ugh.
I live in Puerto Rico, on the north coast (opposite side of the island from dances_with_sneetches). My wife came down with this two weeks ago. She picked it up from the West coast on a business trip - which we were able to determine from the incubation period. So that is to say, it is all over the island.
While not fatal, it is nasty. It started with a full-body rash, which lasted a day, disappeared, then popped up five days later (for only one more day). She had to take a week off work, spent a lot of time in bed with icepacks on her head and joints and it took days for the fever to break. She is back in action now, but if I even hold her hand too tight she squirms from the joint pain. There is no telling how long that will last. The doctor prescribed a tylenol/anti-histamine pill, nothing you can't get over-the-counter.
Our favorite restauranteur, who has an open-air, beach-front restaurant, picked it up a couple weeks back. He explained the joint pain as instantly aging 50 years. His brother and wife caught it right after him.
My parents were planning on visiting last week, but I talked them out of it because the older you are the greater, and longer-lasting, the pain in the joints can be - we are not talking weeks or months, we are talking years.
I was fortunate enough to not catch it from my wife while she was infectious, but the way it is spreading around here I am just waiting for it to happen to me. Each headache I have, each time my knees feel sore I think 'here it comes...'
anonymisc - invest in bug sprays. All the stores here have endcaps with bug sprays, wearable bug-repelling bracelets, clip-on-your-belt bug-repellant devices, etc. Also invest in frozen peas, because we were switching the bags on her head and elbows in and out of the freezer.
posted by zyxwvut at 6:22 AM on September 24, 2014 [3 favorites]
I live in Puerto Rico, on the north coast (opposite side of the island from dances_with_sneetches). My wife came down with this two weeks ago. She picked it up from the West coast on a business trip - which we were able to determine from the incubation period. So that is to say, it is all over the island.
While not fatal, it is nasty. It started with a full-body rash, which lasted a day, disappeared, then popped up five days later (for only one more day). She had to take a week off work, spent a lot of time in bed with icepacks on her head and joints and it took days for the fever to break. She is back in action now, but if I even hold her hand too tight she squirms from the joint pain. There is no telling how long that will last. The doctor prescribed a tylenol/anti-histamine pill, nothing you can't get over-the-counter.
Our favorite restauranteur, who has an open-air, beach-front restaurant, picked it up a couple weeks back. He explained the joint pain as instantly aging 50 years. His brother and wife caught it right after him.
My parents were planning on visiting last week, but I talked them out of it because the older you are the greater, and longer-lasting, the pain in the joints can be - we are not talking weeks or months, we are talking years.
I was fortunate enough to not catch it from my wife while she was infectious, but the way it is spreading around here I am just waiting for it to happen to me. Each headache I have, each time my knees feel sore I think 'here it comes...'
anonymisc - invest in bug sprays. All the stores here have endcaps with bug sprays, wearable bug-repelling bracelets, clip-on-your-belt bug-repellant devices, etc. Also invest in frozen peas, because we were switching the bags on her head and elbows in and out of the freezer.
posted by zyxwvut at 6:22 AM on September 24, 2014 [3 favorites]
Just in case, this isn't clear to those perusing the thread, this disease went from essentially zero (locally acquired) to hundreds of thousands of cases in the Caribbean in less than a year.
This is not a high mortality disease (although anything that makes a person significantly ill can kill the most vulnerable), but it has spread like wildfire and it will probably cause a significant number of deaths.
The US government needs to get on top of this now. If it takes off in Florida the way it did in the Caribbean there will be hundreds of thousands or millions of cases within a year.
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 6:54 AM on September 24, 2014
This is not a high mortality disease (although anything that makes a person significantly ill can kill the most vulnerable), but it has spread like wildfire and it will probably cause a significant number of deaths.
The US government needs to get on top of this now. If it takes off in Florida the way it did in the Caribbean there will be hundreds of thousands or millions of cases within a year.
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 6:54 AM on September 24, 2014
I was fortunate enough to not catch it from my wife while she was infectious
I'm trying to parse this. Do you mean contagious? People with Chikungunya aren't contagious.
posted by Justinian at 7:03 AM on September 24, 2014
I'm trying to parse this. Do you mean contagious? People with Chikungunya aren't contagious.
posted by Justinian at 7:03 AM on September 24, 2014
I've had it!
Thankfully, where I come from, we can laugh in the face of this ridiculously named (and apparently hard to spell) infection.
Seriously though, this news clip segment was shot back when the illness was just becoming known. In the time since then, it has become so widespread and so many people have became ill with it, I bet there is not a single person on this island now, that does not know how to spell Chikungunya.
Everyone has either had it or knows at least a dozen people who have had it.
posted by JenBBB at 7:05 AM on September 24, 2014
Thankfully, where I come from, we can laugh in the face of this ridiculously named (and apparently hard to spell) infection.
Seriously though, this news clip segment was shot back when the illness was just becoming known. In the time since then, it has become so widespread and so many people have became ill with it, I bet there is not a single person on this island now, that does not know how to spell Chikungunya.
Everyone has either had it or knows at least a dozen people who have had it.
posted by JenBBB at 7:05 AM on September 24, 2014
Justinian, I probably used the wrong word. There is a window of time where the virus in a sick person can be transmitted via mosquito to another person. After this window of time, they will continue to have symptoms of the disease but can no longer be a vector for it to be transmitted. It is that window of time I referred to as her being 'infectious.'
Maybe someone here can tell me what word I should have used.
posted by zyxwvut at 7:14 AM on September 24, 2014
Maybe someone here can tell me what word I should have used.
posted by zyxwvut at 7:14 AM on September 24, 2014
No, I understand what you mean now. I thought you meant you could catch it directly from your wife, not that a mosquito might bite her and then bite you.
posted by Justinian at 7:16 AM on September 24, 2014
posted by Justinian at 7:16 AM on September 24, 2014
The US government needs to get on top of this now. If it takes off in Florida the way it did in the Caribbean there will be hundreds of thousands or millions of cases within a year.
I just want to quote this from above because it is very true.
That said, my wife is a medical professional (veterinarian) in the US Army and because of her catching the disease she has been tasked with putting together a presentation on it for her entire region (south-east USA and Caribbean). So while that is but a drop in the bucket (I know, I know, it is a human disease and she is a veterinarian) this kind of information is seeping into the US federal network from at least one unexpected direction.
posted by zyxwvut at 7:37 AM on September 24, 2014 [1 favorite]
I just want to quote this from above because it is very true.
That said, my wife is a medical professional (veterinarian) in the US Army and because of her catching the disease she has been tasked with putting together a presentation on it for her entire region (south-east USA and Caribbean). So while that is but a drop in the bucket (I know, I know, it is a human disease and she is a veterinarian) this kind of information is seeping into the US federal network from at least one unexpected direction.
posted by zyxwvut at 7:37 AM on September 24, 2014 [1 favorite]
I'm sorry: I like to think I have good communication skills but I've buried the lead on this one.
Those numbers that say 700,000 in the Caribbean? Even those are laughable underestimates.
They come from the PAHO (Pan-American Health Organization) estimates. PAHO estimates only 8280 cases in Puerto Rico, both confirmed and suspected. From the percentage of people I know who have gotten infected, it is at least in the tens of thousands and probably in the low hundreds of thousands.
When I say I know ten people who have had it, I probably only know about a hundred people here.
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 1:27 PM on September 24, 2014
Those numbers that say 700,000 in the Caribbean? Even those are laughable underestimates.
They come from the PAHO (Pan-American Health Organization) estimates. PAHO estimates only 8280 cases in Puerto Rico, both confirmed and suspected. From the percentage of people I know who have gotten infected, it is at least in the tens of thousands and probably in the low hundreds of thousands.
When I say I know ten people who have had it, I probably only know about a hundred people here.
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 1:27 PM on September 24, 2014
Well for starters Dave, malaria ain't a virus.
So why isn't Malaria more easily digested by mosquitoes? Protozoans seem more yummy and meaty than virii [or viruses if you prefer the term]?
Found my answer. I should have searched before asking. "Mosquitoes Do Not Ingest Enough HIV Particles to Transmit AIDS by Contamination" http://www.cdc.gov/malaria/about/biology/mosquitoes/
posted by vapidave at 9:41 PM on September 24, 2014
So why isn't Malaria more easily digested by mosquitoes? Protozoans seem more yummy and meaty than virii [or viruses if you prefer the term]?
Found my answer. I should have searched before asking. "Mosquitoes Do Not Ingest Enough HIV Particles to Transmit AIDS by Contamination" http://www.cdc.gov/malaria/about/biology/mosquitoes/
posted by vapidave at 9:41 PM on September 24, 2014
Well, I think I have Chikungunya. Day One. My fever is only 101, but I have aches in all of my joints and I have swelling in my calves. (They say it is unrelated to heart or kidney function.) No rash, yet.
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 3:06 PM on September 30, 2014
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 3:06 PM on September 30, 2014
General itchiness, no rash. Things taste different (another symptom)
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 5:03 PM on October 1, 2014
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 5:03 PM on October 1, 2014
I know not many are looking in, but I thought this does a good job of representing the official underreporting of the epidemic:
Pan American Health Organization puts out the numbers of numbers infected. For their September 19th (most recent) report for Honduras: suspected plus confirmed: 0.
Compare this to:
Honduras declares state of emergency due to Chikungunya virus infections. They estimate 1000 cases in a single suburb of Tegucigalpa.
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 12:45 PM on October 3, 2014
Pan American Health Organization puts out the numbers of numbers infected. For their September 19th (most recent) report for Honduras: suspected plus confirmed: 0.
Compare this to:
Honduras declares state of emergency due to Chikungunya virus infections. They estimate 1000 cases in a single suburb of Tegucigalpa.
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 12:45 PM on October 3, 2014
The above article is misleading. The town with 1000 cases, Villa de San Francisco, is not a suburb of Tegucigalpa. It has only 6000 people.
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 1:03 PM on October 3, 2014
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 1:03 PM on October 3, 2014
I've spent the last three days with a major rash and constant itching but little pain in my joints or muscles. Thank you for asking.
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 2:07 PM on October 6, 2014
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 2:07 PM on October 6, 2014
« Older Why I Just Asked My Students To Put Their Laptops... | AUDIO FEED: SUBJECT 006 Newer »
This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
posted by turbid dahlia at 3:57 PM on September 23, 2014 [1 favorite]