Raleigh, N.C. - State health officials are urging North Carolinians to remain diligent in personal efforts to protect themselves from mosquito bites.  The reminder comes on the heels of Thursday’s announcement by Florida health officials that they have confirmed the state’s first two locally acquired cases of the mosquito-borne virus known as chikungunya (chik-en-gun-ye). Sometimes referred to as CHIKV, the virus has been spreading throughout the Caribbean and Central and South America, and has now reached the continental United States.
 
“Until now, people in this country who have become sick with the virus were travelers who acquired the infection abroad,” Acting State Health Director Robin Gary Cummings said.  “The cases confirmed in Florida shows that the virus could eventually be transmitted in North Carolina as well.”
 
So far this year, the nine cases that have been confirmed in North Carolina were people who recently traveled to the Caribbean.  Chikungunya virus is transmitted through the bite of an infected mosquito, and the Asian tiger mosquito that is commonly found in North Carolina could effectively transmit this virus.  At this time, there have not been any cases of the disease known to have been acquired in North Carolina.
 
Dr. Cummings strongly encourages residents to take precautions against mosquito bites at home as well as when traveling to places that already have chikungunya and other mosquito-borne viruses.

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