The mosquito-borne chikungunya virus and what it means for Long Island

New York State Department of Health officials are investigating a possible locally acquired case of the chikungunya virus in Nassau County.

If confirmed, the case would mark the first-ever transmission of the mosquito-borne virus within the state. The only New Yorkers ever to test positive for the virus were infected while traveling elsewhere, according to the state Health Department.

What is chikungunya?

The chikungunya virus was first detected in Tanzania in 1952, and get its mouthful of a name from a word in the Makonde language, which means "that which bends up," because of severe pain the affliction can cause.

The virus — which is rarely fatal — infects certain types of mosquitoes found "in tropical areas, so south of the border," Dr. Sharon Nachman, chief of pediatric infectious diseases at Stony Brook Children's Hospital, told Newsday. "We see them in Puerto Rico, the islands, Brazil ... and of course there was an outbreak recently in some other countries."

These infected mosquitoes transmit the virus to humans via bite. Thousands of infections were detected in southern China this summer.

What are the symptoms?

Anyone infected with chikungunya can expect to run a fever and endure muscle pain and joint swelling, Nachman said. Other possible symptoms include headache and a rash.

"It’s not the typical virus or flu-like illness with a runny nose and a cough," Nachman said. "Someone with this disease is going to be pretty miserable for a couple of weeks, but they are going to get better."

How is it detected?

Cases of chikungunya can be "easily" identified, Nachman said. Anyone experiencing symptoms should seek medical care and inform their provider where they have recently traveled. Providers can send patients for a blood test to confirm their infection.

How is it treated?

There is no treatment to attack chikungunya virus, according to Nachman. However, medical providers can treat the symptoms plaguing those infected.

"Once you get it, you’re stuck in the routine things like keeping your fever down, hydrating, taking it easy, that kind of stuff," Nachman said. "It can last for several days ... about two weeks."

How does it compare to West Nile virus?

Chikungunya is less lethal than the West Nile virus, another mosquito-borne illness that has been identified in both insects and humans on Long Island, according to Nachman. While West Nile can cause brain inflammation and infect the central nervous system in rare cases, chikungunya is "not really a brain tropic virus," the infectious disease expert said.

"In a healthy host, it’s certainly less serious" than West Nile, Nachman added.

How could someone have gotten infected here?

A lot of "detective work" must be completed to determine how one Long Islander may have become infected with chikungunya, Nachman said. In addition to confirming the infected individual did not acquire the virus while traveling, health officials must hunt down any mosquito pools surrounding the individual and test them for the virus.

Will cases spread here?

An outbreak of chikungunya here is "more of a theoretical concern than a practical one," Nachman said. The exposed patient zero would need to have "enough virus circulating in her blood and getting enough mosquitoes feeding on her ... having them infected and then going and feeding on somebody else and transmitting."

"Many things are possible. Is it likely?" Nachman asked rhetorically of a local outbreak. "No."

The mosquitoes that transmit chikungunya have not yet been detected in New York. It is possible an infected mosquito survived a flight to New York and infected the Long Islander, Nachman said, which would widen investigators’ mosquito pool hunting and testing efforts.

Due to global warming, Nachman said there is the looming concern that the types of mosquitoes which carry the virus could migrate beyond the tropics into the northern hemisphere. In 2014, local transmission of the virus to humans occurred in both Florida and Texas, according to the Centers for Decease Control and Prevention.

"Right now, they’re not coming here," Nachman added of New York. "But every year they’re inching closer to us."

With AP