TY - JOUR AU - Lizarazo, Erley AU - Vincenti-Gonzalez, Maria AU - Grillet, Maria AU - Bethencourt, Sarah AU - Diaz, Oscar AU - Ojeda, Noheliz AU - Ochoa, Haydee AU - Rangel, Maria Auxiliadora AU - Tami, Adriana T1 - Spatial Dynamics of Chikungunya Virus, Venezuela, 2014 T2 - Emerging Infectious Disease journal PY - 2019 VL - 25 IS - 4 SP - 672 SN - 1080-6059 AB - Since chikungunya virus emerged in the Caribbean region in late 2013, ≈45 countries have experienced chikungunya outbreaks. We described and quantified the spatial and temporal events after the introduction and propagation of chikungunya into an immunologically naive population from the urban north-central region of Venezuela during 2014. The epidemic curve (n = 810 cases) unraveled within 5 months with a basic reproductive number of 3.7 and a radial spread traveled distance of 9.4 km at a mean velocity of 82.9 m/day. The highest disease diffusion speed occurred during the first 90 days, and space and space–time modeling suggest the epidemic followed a particular geographic pathway with spatiotemporal aggregation. The directionality and heterogeneity of transmission during the first introduction of chikungunya indicated existence of areas of diffusion and elevated risk for disease and highlight the importance of epidemic preparedness. This information will help in managing future threats of new or reemerging arboviruses. KW - Chikungunya KW - arbovirus KW - outbreak KW - spatiotemporal KW - basic reproductive number KW - Venezuela KW - viruses KW - vector-borne infections KW - mosquitoes DO - 10.3201/eid2504.172121 UR - https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/25/4/17-2121_article ER - End of Reference