New York Senator Chuck Schumer has called on the Center for Disease Control and Prevention to issue a national health warning of a virus that World Cup goers may bring back to the United States.
Chikungunya virus is transmissible through mosquitoes in Brazil, the host country of the World Cup. Schumer told the Associated Press that three individuals were diagnosed in New York and 25 in Florida.
“The problem here is that the World Cup gives the unfortunate opportunity for the virus to spread among people from all nations of the world who are together,” the senator said, as reported by CBS 2.
Schumer also requested that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security intensify border security, as more than 100,000 people in the Caribbean have been diagnosed with the virus.
While the virus is not fatal, it is “a miserable infection,” noted Dr. William Schaffner, chairman of Vanderbilt University’s Department of Preventative Medicine.
Potential symptoms include fevers, joint and muscle pain, swelling and rashes.