Chikungunya: From Zero to 1.24 MIllion Once-rare virus now causing thousands of cases a week in the Americas.

In slightly more than a year, the Americas have seen more than 1.24 million cases of chikungunya virus, a mosquito-borne disease that causes high fever and debilitating joint pain. The tropical virus was rare in North, Central, and South America until December 2013, when investigation of suspected dengue virus in the Caribbean island of St. Martin turned up 26 cases of chikungunya, without any sign they had been imported from elsewhere. http://www.medpagetoday.com/InfectiousDisease/Vaccines/50288?xid=nl_mpt_DHE_2015-03-04&utm_content=&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=DailyHeadlines&utm_source=ST&eun=g721819d0r&userid=721819&email=amydugan2@gmail.com&mu_id=5883165