Globalisation of diseases - chikungunya goes to Italy!

Given their frightening frequency, I have become unresponsive to reports about malaria, dengue and chikungunya. But this one caught my attention. It says chikungunya has finally established itself in Italy where 160 cases have been detected. Antoine Flahault, a French professor, claims the Italian outbreak was a "world first" outside the tropics. Chikungunya fever, says BBC, is named after a Swahili word meaning "that which bends up" - referring to the stooped posture of those afflicted.