ONE person has been di agnosed with mosquito-borne chikungunya fever in Paris just days ahead of the Olympics, French health officials have reported. The viral disease causes acute fever and joint pain, and there is no cure, but it is rarely fatal. 2 Chikungunya fever is carried by tiger mosquitos Credit: Getty 2 Map reveals the 18 European countries where disease-ridden mosquitoes have been spotted It is widespread in the tropics, but the person in Paris is believed to have caught it locally on July 18 - just one week before the Olympics started.
In June, France enlisted ‘tiger mosquito detectives’ to prevent an outbreak at the Paris Olympics. Last summer, Paris was fumigated for the first time to stop disease-ridden tiger bugs from rapidly spreading north to infect people in the French capital. The name of the disease means "to become contorted" in the African Kimakonde language, as it causes severe muscle and joint pain.
Symptoms also include the sudden onset of fever , headache and fatigue . Most patients recover after a few days but in some cases, the joint pain may persist for weeks, months or even longer. The tiger mosquito, also known as Aedes albopictus, arrived in southern Europe in the first decade of this century.
Since then, it has become "established" in Austria , Bulgaria, Croatia , France , Germany , Greece, Hungary , Italy , Malta, Portugal , Romania , Slovenia and Spain. Most read in Health SOCIAL STORM Premiership star's social media account shares Tomm.