From Caribbean360

The first case of the disease in the Caribbean was reported in the French island of St. Martin last year. Since then it has spread to several countries including Dominica.

CASTRIES, St. Lucia, Wednesday April 2, 2014, CMC – St. Lucia has recorded its first case of the mosquito-borne disease, chikungunya.

However, the national epidemiologists in the Ministry of Health, Nehum Jn Baptiste, said the authorities were urging the public not to panic.

“We do not want to create any panic. It is because of our efforts with respect to strengthening the surveillance that we are now able to detect much quicker, not only chikungunya but dengue, leptospirosis and some of the other diseases that present with similar symptoms,” Jn Baptiste said.

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 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 hospitalisation are rare.

The first case of the disease in the Caribbean was reported in the French island of St. Martin last year. Since then it has spread to several countries with Dominica Tuesday urging nationals to adhere to measures to prevent the spread of the chikungunya disease on the island.

Chief Medical Officer Dr. David Johnson said that while there were 81 confirmed cases, more than 500 suspected cases were also being dealt with.

“So far we have confirmed 81 cases and the confirmation I refer to is laboratory confirmation…but these are not all the persons who have the disease. There are a lot more persons who are presented with the disease.

“In fact the numbers that we have so far indicate that we have over 550 suspected cases. So in addition to the 81 confirmed cases…we also have a number of other suspected cases,” he said.

In a statement, the Ministry of Health here said that given the trends of inter-island travel, it has adopted a proactive stance in anticipation of this disease surfacing here.

“Everyone is vulnerable. I want to take this opportunity to reactivate, re-alert, re-sensitise persons with respect to reducing the source of breeding for those mosquitoes.

“The message that we have been constantly speaking to the public with respect to controlling the dengue fever it’s the same control measures that we need to have with respect to chikungunya,” Jn Baptiste said.

For more on this story go to: http://www.caribbean360.com/index.php/news/st_lucia_news/1107397.html#ixzz2xkG0wtKs

Related story:

Dominica health authorities worried at spread of chikungunya disease

From Caribbean360

Chief Medical Officer Dr. David Johnson said that while there were 81 confirmed cases, more than 500 suspected cases were also being dealt with.

ROSEAU, Dominica, Wednesday April 2, 2014, CMC – Dominican health authorities Tuesday urged nationals to adhere to measures to prevent the spread of the chikungunya disease on the island.

Chief Medical Officer Dr. David Johnson said that while there were 81 confirmed cases, more than 500 suspected cases were also being dealt with.

“So far we have confirmed 81 cases and the confirmation I refer to is laboratory confirmation…but these are not all the persons who have the disease. There are a lot more persons who are presented with the disease.

“In fact the numbers that we have so far indicate that we have over 550 suspected cases. So in addition to the 81 confirmed cases…we also have a number of other suspected cases,” he said.

Dr. Johnson said that the Ministry of Health is concerned that many people were not adhering to the measures outlined to prevent the spread of the 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 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 hospitalisation are rare.

“Based on the evaluation we have been doing we noticed that there is still significant amount of breeding of mosquitoes in an and around the premises of individuals all over the island.”

He said investigations show that the main source of breeding of the mosquitoes takes place in uncovered drums found at the homes of many people.

“There are a number of persons in spite of the fact that they may have pipe borne water at their homes, but for whatever reason or reasons they still have a number of drums storing water and these drums are uncovered and these drums breed a lot of mosquitoes and that is a concern for us.

“That is a very, very, worrying sign for us in the Ministry of Health and it has a worrying signs for all of us in Dominica,” he said, noting that in spite of the various messages to educate the general public as to how chikungunya is spread, many people were still not adhering to the precautions.

No one has died of the disease in Dominica.

For more on this story go to: http://www.caribbean360.com/index.php/news/dominica_news/1107395.html?utm_source=Caribbean360+Newsletters&utm_campaign=f3cbfadd7e-Vol_9_Issue_066_News4_2_2014&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_350247989a-f3cbfadd7e-39393477#ixzz2xkRcwY9W