By Rebekah Marcarelli From HNGN

A painful mosquito-borne illness is sweeping the Caribbean.

Chikungunya is more commonly seen in Africa and Asia, but five months ago it was detected in the Caribbean, Reuters reported.

The illness, which causes symptoms such as painful joints and high fevers, has spread across several islands in the region.

“These mosquitoes know no borders,” Phyllis Kozarsky, a physician with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, told Reuters.

Seven deaths have occurred in people who contracted the virus, but they may have had other health problems that caused them to have a more serious reaction. So far there have been over 55,000 suspected and confirmed cases.

There have been at least three cases in the state of Florida and 5,500 people in Haiti have fallen ill.

“My 22-year-old son is brave, but now he’s crying like a kid. His arms, his neck, his back, every part of his body is in pain,” Marco Dorival of Port-au-Prince told Reuters.

There is currently no treatment for the illness, but Paracetamol can be prescribe to treat high fevers and associated pain.

Even this medicine could be hard to come by in places such as Haiti so the ministry of health ordered 400,000 doses of acetaminophen to be distributed throughout the country.

The spread of the illness does not show signs of slowing down anytime soon. Many homes in Haiti contain open water containers due to a lack of running water; this can act as a breeding ground for mosquitos carrying the illness.

“Thirty to 35 percent of the population will get sick,” WHO representative Dr. Jean-Luc Poncelet told Reuters.

Haiti and the Dominican Republic plan to spray pesticides in hopes of combating the spread of chikungunya.

“There was a period of time that I couldn’t walk, and when I could walk again I was bent over,” Richard Barbour, a pastor at Advent Lutheran church in Boca Raton, Florida, told Reuters.

Barbour may have contracted the painful disease during a trip he took to Haiti last week.

The illness is carried by mosquitos. (Photo : Flickr)

For more on this story go to: http://www.hngn.com/articles/32146/20140523/mosquito-borne-illness-chikungunya-spreading-across-caribbean-infecting-over-55-000.htm

St Lucia health officials: Chikungunya virus outbreak “much worse” than reports indicate

CASTRIES, St. Lucia, Tuesday May 27, 2014, CMC – Health officials are warning of an increase in the number of cases of chikungunya virus and that the “situation on the ground is believed to be much worse than the figures presented”.

Epidemiologist Neham Jn Baptiste said the island had so far recorded 20 confirmed cases and 120 suspected cases of the virus that is spread by the aedes aegypti mosquito.

“The situation on the ground is believed to be much worse than the figures presented as according to information from the Ministry of Health.

“Some persons with chikungunya have opted to use home remedies like bush medicine, rather than reporting their condition to a doctor or health clinic,” he added.

He said that it is very important to know which areas are affected so as to provide strategic environmental control.

While the virus is more prevalent among women, Jn Baptiste said that pregnant women especially must be protected from contracting the virus which he said could be much more harmful to this group.

Chikungunya, a virus more commonly found in Africa and Asia and transmitted by the same daytime-biting aedes aegypti mosquito that causes the more deadly dengue fever, was first detected in the eastern Caribbean five months ago.

Since then, it has jumped from island to island, sending thousands of patients to the hospital with painful joints, pounding headaches and spiking fevers. Chikungunya is normally not deadly and symptoms begin to dissipate within a week.

Jn Baptiste said that with the onset of the rainy season, there is also a higher risk of people contracting dengue.

He warned that the circulation of chikungunya and dengue at the same time could pose as a major public health threat, he warned.

The Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO) reports more than 55,000 suspected and confirmed cases in the Caribbean.

For more on this story go to: http://www.caribbean360.com/news/st-lucia-health-officals-chikungunya-virus-outbreak-much-worse-than-reports-indicate?utm_source=Caribbean360%20Newsletters&utm_campaign=88414e523e-Vol_9_Issue_105_News5_27_2014&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_350247989a-88414e523e-39393477