New York health officials have confirmed the first-ever locally acquired case of chikungunya virus, a mosquito-borne illness linked to tropical regions.<\/p>\n
What’s happening?<\/p>\n
The New York Department of Health in October announced<\/a> that a locally acquired case of chikungunya had been confirmed in Nassau County.<\/p>\n Though three other cases had been confirmed in the state earlier in the year, all of them were tied to travel abroad, CBS News<\/a> reported.<\/p>\n The new case represents the first-ever locally acquired case of chikungunya in New York and the first locally acquired case in the United States since 2019.<\/p>\n As of mid-October, the risk of contracting chikungunya in New York was “very low” due to much colder nighttime temperatures, according to Health Commissioner Dr. James McDonald. He still advised caution, though.<\/p>\n “We urge everyone to take simple precautions to protect themselves and their families from mosquito bites,” McDonald said in a statement<\/a>.<\/p>\n Why is the chikungunya case concerning?<\/p>\n Chikungunya virus was once found only in Africa and Asia, but it has spread quickly since 2004, according to Mayo Clinic<\/a>.<\/p>\n Symptoms include joint swelling, muscle pain, headache, nausea, fatigue, and rash. Most of these symptoms dissipate in a few weeks, but \u200b\u200bsome people suffer persistent joint and muscle pain for months or years. In rare cases, the virus can turn deadly.<\/p>\n The overheating of the planet<\/a> is facilitating the spread of chikungunya and other mosquito-borne illnesses by expanding the habitats of the species that spread them \u2014 warmer temperatures are allowing these mosquitoes to survive in more northerly areas and at higher altitudes.<\/p>\n Warmer conditions are also allowing mosquitoes to stay active during longer periods throughout the year. For instance, a slew of cities and counties across the United States, including Denver, reported an earlier-than-usual West Nile virus season in 2025.<\/p>\n What’s being done about mosquito-borne diseases?<\/p>\n According to Mayo Clinic, a vaccine is available to help prevent chikungunya, but no specific treatment is available.<\/p>\n In general, the best way to avoid mosquito-borne diseases is to prevent bites.<\/p>\n The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention<\/a> suggests using an insect repellent registered with the Environmental Protection Agency; wearing long, loose-fitting clothing, avoiding the outdoors near dawn and dusk; and using screens on windows and doors to keep mosquitoes outside.<\/p>\n Many communities are also actively reducing mosquito populations in an effort to curb the transmission of mosquito-borne illnesses.<\/p>\n A number of agencies spray for these blood-sucking insects, but officials in one Florida county have another innovative solution: deploying X-ray technology to kill invasive mosquitoes.<\/p>\n Join our free newsletter<\/a> for good news and useful tips, and don’t miss this cool list<\/a> of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New York health officials have confirmed the first-ever locally acquired case of chikungunya virus, a mosquito-borne illness linked…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":288212,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[49,48,130621,42183,84,392,28112,89787,130620,130622],"class_list":{"0":"post-288211","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-healthcare","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-chikungunya-case","11":"tag-chikungunya-virus","12":"tag-health","13":"tag-healthcare","14":"tag-mayo-clinic","15":"tag-mosquito-bites","16":"tag-new-york-department-of-health","17":"tag-tropical-regions"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/288211","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=288211"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/288211\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/288212"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=288211"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=288211"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=288211"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}