Just to reiterate, we live here and have still not got it, we do apply mozzie spray in the morning and again in the evening. We have traveled all over the island, spending much time in the Kingston area during the ChickV infection height in October and early November. We never contracted it just as hundreds of thousands of others have not.
The island wide eradication efforts that were paid for by the state of emergency funds that became available have been doing much to stop the spread.
We know people who have had ChickV. For many, it acts and feels like a 3 day flu. First day you feel a little off, second day you cant get out of bed with fever and joint pain, and the third day you begin to feel better.
Others seem to have a type that lingers, you start feeling better but then pain returns to areas of your body that you previously had injured. Say you broke your ankle 20 years ago, pain will flare back up in that area and you can feel fine everywhere else. It is hard to say if it is a different strain or just effecting people differently because of the differences in immune systems. There seems to be very little obvious common factors.
We know thousands that have not contracted it, and the snowbirds we know who contracted it seemed to have gotten it almost immediately off the plane and were generally not using bug spray. It is not something you want to get, so use your mozzie spray often and reapply as necessary like when you get out of the water or after a shower.
