A virus that spreads to humans through mosquitos is leading Chinese officials to impose quarantines in parts of the country
LOUISVILLE, KY - AUGUST 25: Matthew Vanderpool, environmental health specialist and entomologist for the Louisville Metro Department of Public Health and Wellness, displays a mosquito collected earlier in the day on August 25, 2021 in Louisville, Kentucky.
Vanderpool specializes in mosquito control, a public health process that involves placing traps to collect specimen, identifying various mosquito species, and testing the samples for mosquito-borne diseases. Lab technologists test for Saint Louis encephalitis, West Nile virus, La Crosse encephalitis, and Eastern equine encephalitis. A virus that spreads to humans through mosquitos is leading Chinese officials to impose quarantines in parts of the country as cases surge to over 10,000 in the country. Chikungunya is an illness which causes those infected to develop a fever, joint pain, nausea, fatigue and skin rashes, and in rare cases can cause death. There is no antiviral treatment for the virus, but those infected will typically see their symptoms disappear after a week or two; however, joint pain has been reported to last months and even years after the virus. In rare cases, an infected person can develop life threatening complications involving their brain and heart. In the city of Foshan, located in the Guangdong ProvInce, there have been more than 7,000 infections reported. Authorities have called for patients to be quarantined in hospital wards where they will remain for a week or until they test negative. Chikungunya is not passed between humans; however, a mosquito can bite an infected person and then pass the disease on to another carrier. In the past week, a total of 3,000 cases have been reported in at least 12 cities located in the Guangdong providence. The CDC issued a Level 2 travel advisory for Guangdong Province, advising Americans to wear long clothing, insect repellent in an effort to avoid mosquito mites. Americans are being advised by the CDC to be vaccinated if they are headed to the outbreak areas. There are two FDA-approved vaccines available: IXCHIQ for adults aged 18 and older and VIMKUNYA, approved for people aged 12 and up. The Chikungunya virus, primarily spread by Aedes mosquito species, is most commonly seen in Asia, Africa and South Africa, but cases have also been reported in Europe and U.S. During 2004 and 2005, nearly half a million people worldwide were infected with the disease, and now cases are on the rise again in 2025 with outbreaks also reported in the Indian Ocean Islands of La Réunion, Mayotte, and Mauritius. So far this year, there have been approximately 240,000 chikungunya cases and 90 related deaths reported in 16 countries, according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. In the United States, the CDC reports 46 cases of chikungunya infections, but they have all been contracted by travelers. Last year there were 200 travel-related cases of chikungunya in the United States. Prior to 2006, chikungunya was not typically reported in the United States, but between 2006 and 2013 there has been an average of 30 cases a year.
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