New Virus Forecast To Cause Pain In U.S. This Summer

Globalization has shifted society in many ways: Jobs have moved from country to country. Cultures have had to adjust to unexpected outside influences. And diseases now spread much more easily between continents.

Researchers at Cornell predict that outbreaks of chikungunya, a painful virus transported by travelers and spread by the invasive Asian tiger mosquito, could occur in 2013 in New York City during August and September, in Atlanta from June through September, and year-round in Miami. The probability of a disease outbreak is correlated with the temperature. Warmer weather allows the Asian tiger mosquito to breed faster and grow in larger numbers.

According to computer models, there is a high probability of a chikungunya outbreak if a single infected person arrives in New York in July or August and is bitten by an Asian tiger mosquito. The risks are the same, but with wider timeframes, for transmission in Atlanta and Miami, according to the research.

Chikungunya symptoms include a fever, severe joint pain, achiness, headache, nausea and fatigue, as well as "debilitating and prolonged" pain in the small joints of the hands and feet, according to the paper. The virus originated in Central Africa and is endemic in Southeast Asia.