On Monday, the Mississippi Department of Health announced that the state already has its first ever case of chikungunya virus this year. Last year, the state documented eight cases and all of them were from international travelers.

While the chikungunya viral disease isn't the main concern of local health officials, they fear that more cases would arise if people who have contracted the virus failed to stay indoors for at least 10 days, WREG reports.

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When patients get bitten by mosquitos, the chikungunya virus could easily be transmitted from one person to another.

According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, people who get infected with the virus usually start to manifest the symptoms 3-7 days after getting bitten by the mosquito vector.

Symptoms may include headache, myalgia or muscle pain, dermatitis or rash and joint inflammation. The symptoms can get severe and even disabling, but the infection does not result to death.

Interestingly, the symptoms of chikungunya infection are very similar to those of dengue, a viral infection that is also spread by mosquitos. Hence, physicians may order several blood tests to accurately diagnose patients.

For treatment, medical professionals ask patients to get lots of rest and to prevent dehydration by taking in adequate to large volumes of fluids.

Although there's no big threat when it comes to contracting the chikungunya virus since its infection is self-limiting, authorities feel that the crippling virus is posing a threat of an imminent worldwide outbreak.

Experts say the chikungunya virus has already spread in other continents aside from Africa and Asia, and infecting over 300 million people all over the world.

ScienceNews noted that chikungunya infection has become a global phenomenon in 10 years because of international travel.

First described in East Africa in 1952, chikungunya has now become a common disease in Latin America. In 2005, it hit India and Southeast Asia, where it continues to wreak havoc. 

Scientists have found that the virus has mutated to successfully thrive inside a new carrier, the Asian tiger mosquito called Aedes albopictus. Before, the virus was only capable of thriving inside Aedes aegypti. 

Through its new vector, the chikungunya virus managed to spread in other parts of the world such as Italy, France and many more.

Thus far, it is reaching for the Western Hemisphere. It has already affected a few people in Florida, and a couple more isolated cases elsewhere have also been documented.

Given the increasing number of chikungunya virus in many parts of the world, virologist Mark Heise, of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, says, "It's certainly something I worry about."

TagsChikungunya, outbreak, Virus, Signs and Symptoms, Disease