Chikungunya virus that recently spread to Americas gaining a foothold in Caribbean

A new mosquito-borne virus that causes high fever and intense joint pain is rapidly gaining a foothold in the Caribbean.

There are currently more than 4,000 confirmed cases of the fast-spreading chikungunya virus, most in the French Caribbean islands of Martinique, Guadeloupe and St Martin.

Another 31,000 suspected cases have been reported across the region of scattered islands.

The often painful illness most commonly found in Asia and Africa was first detected in December in tiny St Martin.

It was the first time that local transmission of chikungunya had been reported in the Americas. Since then, it has spread to nearly a dozen other islands and French Guiana, an overseas department of France on the north shoulder of South America.

It is rarely fatal and most chikungunya patients recover within a week, but some people experience continuing joint pain.