FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) – Public health officials in Tarrant County have confirmed the North Texas county’s first case of chikungunya (chicken-GUN’-yuh) virus disease.
Officials at Tarrant County Public Health say a resident of Mansfield, about 20 miles southwest of Fort Worth, has been diagnosed with the disease after returning home from the Caribbean. Other details are being withheld to protect the patient’s privacy.
It’s the 13th Texas case of the illness considered rarely fatal but marked by joint pain, fever, muscle aches and rash. Recovery typically takes about a week.
Mosquitoes that carry the virus are found in Texas. The associate director of the Tarrant County health agency, Dr. Anita, Kurian, said Friday there’s no evidence it’s spreading locally in the county. Only Florida so far has reported a local spread of the virus.