#24 – Travel Viruses: Scandinavia, Mosquitoes and Sindbis Virus

Part two of the summer series on viruses you might pick up on vacation — this time heading north. Sindbis virus is transmitted by ordinary Culex mosquitoes and causes a disease known variously as Pogosta disease, Ockelbo disease, or Karelian fever. Florian Krammer explains why it's closely related to chikungunya (you could call it the chikungunya of the north), how migratory birds spread it across Eurasia and Africa, and why most infections go unnoticed — there are 20 to 40 asymptomatic cases for every symptomatic one.