Note: iNews Cayman announced this first on December 11 2013

This is published on behalf of the Department of Public Health

Medical Officer of Health Dr. Kiran Kumar received notification through Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) that there is an outbreak of Chikungunya virus infection on the French side of the Caribbean Island of Saint Martin.

Chikungunya is a viral disease, carried mainly by the Aedes Aegypti mosquito and causes a dengue-like sickness.  Symptoms include a sudden high fever, severe pain in the wrists, ankles or knuckles, muscle pain, headache, nausea and rash.  Joint pain and stiffness are more common with Chikungunya than with dengue. The management of Chikungunya is symptomatic, similar to that of Dengue.

The symptoms appear between four to seven days after the bite of an infected mosquito.  The majority of clinical signs and symptoms last three to 10 days, but joint pain may persist longer.  Severe cases requiring hospitalization are rare.

There is no vaccine or treatment for Chikungunya, which has infected millions of people in Africa and Asia since the disease was first recorded in 1952.  India, countries in the Indian Ocean, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Singapore and Indonesia are among the major countries currently with Chikungunya.

It is noteworthy that this is the first time locally-acquired cases of Chikungunya have been detected in the Caribbean.  In the Americas, imported cases had previously been reported from Brazil, Canada, French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Martinique and the United States of America.

Dr. Bill Petrie, Director of the Mosquito Research and Control Unit explains that the measures for controlling the spread of Chikungunya are the same of those applied for the control of dengue as both diseases are transmitted by the same mosquito, Aedes aegypti.  “The best way to protect yourself from the disease it to avoid mosquito bites and to prevent mosquitoes breeding in and around your home environment” he added.

Dr. Kiran Kumar is advising visitors or returning residents from the endemic countries, with fever and severe joint pains should consult a physician and advise of travel history to enable them to assess and test for Chikungunya which will be carried out at the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) Trinidad.

Related story:

New mosquito-borne virus emerges

By Tom Wilemon The Tennessean

Doctors should learn more about chikungunya virus because the mosquito-borne disease can now be contracted in the Americas for the first time, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports.

Ten cases have been confirmed among people who live on the French side of St. Martin in the Caribbean, the agency said, nothing that the disease could spread to other islands in the region. Doctors should consider screening people for the disease if they show symptoms and have traveled to the Caribbean, the CDC said.

Outbreaks have previously been reported in Africa, southern Europe, southeast Asia, India and islands in the Pacific Ocean and Indian Ocean.

Symptoms of the disease include fever, headache, fatigue, nausea, vomiting, muscle pain, rash, and joint pain. The illness can last from a few days to a few weeks, according to the CDC.

Although there is no specific treatment for chikungunya fever or a vaccine to ward off infection, the disease is not usually fatal. Treatment is based on the symptoms.

It remains to be determined whether chikungunya virus will follow the path of West Nile virus. West Nile, another mosquito-borne disease that was first discovered in Africa, began circulating in the Western Hemisphere in 1999 when it emerged in New York City. West Nile virus is now endemic in the United States, except for Alaska and Hawaii.

For more on this story go to:

http://www.tennessean.com/article/20131214/NEWS07/312140066?nclick_check=1

See also related iNews Cayman story published December 11 2013 “WHO sees first chikungunya cases in western hemisphere” at: http://www.ieyenews.com/wordpress/who-sees-first-chikungunya-cases-in-western-hemisphere/