| A person in Long Island, New York, tested positive for chikungunya virus this month, the state health department said. It’s the first locally acquired case of the virus since 2019. There’s little detail on the patient, but the type of mosquito that carries chikungunya – the Aedes species mosquito – is local to parts of Long Island, a suburb of New York City. The person started feeling symptoms in August and reported traveling outside of the county but didn’t go abroad, the Nassau County health department said in a release. While the disease doesn’t spread person to person, the positive infection is a sign that local mosquitos could be carrying the disease. Though there’s no need to panic, officials said. “Given the much colder nighttime temperatures, the current risk in New York is very low,” State Health Commissioner James McDonald said in a statement. So what is chikungunya? It’s spread by the same mosquitoes that transmit dengue and Zika viruses. Symptoms of chikungunya include fever and joint pain, headaches, joint swelling and a rash, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It’s rarely fatal but it can cause severe and debilitating illness. People 65 and older and those with chronic conditions are at higher risk. The disease exploded in China over the summer – an area where chikungunya isn’t endemic. The country recorded more than 16,000 infections in the Guangdong province as of Sept. 27, according to the World Health Organization. The outbreak caused the CDC to issue a travel notice for Americans in August. The virus is endemic in sub-tropical regions, including parts of the Caribbean, South America and Africa. But as temperatures rose this summer, unusual spots like Italy and France started seeing infections too. The threat of mosquito-borne illnesses like chikungunya and dengue is continuing to grow as a result of climate change. By 2050, the WHO expects 5 billion people will be at risk from mosquito-borne infections as the bugs migrate. In fact, Los Angeles health officials said earlier this week that the department is investigating the first locally acquired dengue infection in 2025. Los Angeles County reported 14 locally acquired cases last year, an occurrence it called “extremely rare.” The CDC recommends people traveling to an outbreak region receive a vaccine. However, there is a bit of a caveat. The US Food and Drug Administration ordered the live-virus vaccine manufactured by Valneva to be pulled from the market in August. The move was based on safety concerns, where the vaccine appeared to cause a chikungunya-like illness in some people. There were four reports of serious adverse events outside of the US in individuals aged 70 to 82, including hospitalizations. There is one other vaccine approved that does not use a live virus particle, the CDC says. Even as temperatures start to cool in the fall, it’s still worth protecting yourself from mosquitoes — especially in warmer areas of the US that are where bugs remain active. Wearing clothing that covers your arms and legs and using bug spray are just some of the ways to keep bites at bay. – Jessica Nix | 
