« ASM: Moving target | Main | ASM: Mould ate my house »

Island-hopping virus' ferocity exposed

Joint-crippling disease threatens to spread across the globe.

Scientists have found clues as to why a little-known virus is disabling hundreds of thousands of Indian Ocean island dwellers, in an outbreak that threatens to spread further around the world. It seems the virus has adopted a genetic change that may make it more efficient at invading the mosquitoes that carry it from person to person.

Read the story here.

Posted by Nicola Jones on May 23, 2006 09:08 AM |

TrackBack

TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://blogs.nature.com/cgi-bin/mt/mt-tb.cgi/621

Comments

Thanks for the article relating to Chikungunya on Reunion Island. We currently live in Reunion and the reality is just as you noted. Fortunately cooler weather has reduced the particular mosquito population that carries the virus and the weekly cases are down. Hope your review opens some eyes of the western world. Appears many have turned a deaf ear to the issue when it comes to the media world (North American Based). Thanks again.

Posted by: KROEZE | May 25, 2006 03:09 PM

Post a comment

Comments will be reviewed by staff before being published. You can be as critical or controversial as you like, but please don't get personal or offensive, and do keep it brief. Excessively long entries may be cropped. Remember this is for feedback and discussion - not for publishing papers or press releases.

We strongly encourage you to use your real, full name. Email addresses are required: this is just in case we need to discuss your comment with you privately. They won’t be published.


Please enter the numbers you see below - this helps us to cut down on spam. Note that attempting to post within 30 seconds of hitting ‘preview’ or ‘post’ can cause the system to think you are spamming the site. If you are having trouble with this system, you can instead e-mail a comment to 'inthefield at nature.com'.

Search