Minnesota State Bird?

Another reason to hate (and fear) mosquitoes:

Almost 270 people in Italy's province of Ravenna may have been infected with chikungunya, a virus that causes fever, rash and joint pain, since it arrived with a tourist three months ago. The outbreak was caused by the same viral strain that sickened about 235,000 people on Reunion island in the Indian Ocean last year, says an Italian virologist investigating the episode.

Now Italy is threatened by a contagious illness that may also spread elsewhere in Europe and North America the same way it got to Ravenna -- through an infected traveler. There were 2.1 billion airplane passengers last year, driving the spread of new diseases that are emerging at ``an unprecedented rate,'' the World Health Organization said last month.