Infectious disease specialists say they have confirmed the Mayaro virus in a patient in Haiti.

The virus is closely related to the chikungunya virus but researchers say they do not yet know if it’s caused by the same Aedes aegypti mosquito that’s been linked to chikungunya and the Zika virus.

“Many different mosquitoes can carry the same virus,” said Dr. John Lednicky, a University of Florida associate professor who runs the university’s laboratory in Haiti. He said the Mayaro virus first was found in Trinidad and Tobago in 1954, and causes similar symptoms to chikungunya: fever, joint and muscle pain, rashes and abdominal pain.

“One can say it’s as bad as chikungunya, but there is so little information available,” he said.

Whether the confirmed case signals the start of a new outbreak in the Caribbean region, researchers do not know, Lednicky said. Nor do they know if the virus is going to be widespread in Haiti where the Zika virus has been difficult to track because of the country’s weak health system.

It was Lednicky and his researchers who this year announced that the Zika virus had been present in the hemisphere months before it was confirmed in Brazil in March 2015.


Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.

Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.