Scott Weaver, a world expert on the chikungunya virus and the director of UTMB’s Institute for Human Infections and Immunity, recently spent four days in the Dominican Republic, which shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti, to see how the virus was spreading and evaluate the mosquito population. He also wanted to see whether it was being spread by both species of mosquitoes — the Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus — that are present on the island as well as in the southern and eastern United States. Weaver said he believes the culprit is the dreaded Aedes aegypti mosquito, which also transmits dengue and yellow fever, that is behind the spread. Weaver said it’s very likely that the disease will soon reach the southern United States as dengue has. “People flying in and out of places like the Dominican Republic and landing and getting bitten by mosquitoes will start the cycle off,” he said. “It’s a disease you don’t want to get. It is very painful, debilitating. The pain and swelling in joints can last for years. It’s a bad disease. It makes you very sick.”