The Trinidad-based Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) Tuesday said that for the first time, locally-acquired cases of chikungunya have been detected in the Caribbean.
“There is currently no evidence of cases on the Dutch side of the island of St Martin, or in other parts of the Caribbean.” they said.
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, warned CARPHA.
CARPHA has said that health authorities on both sides of the island of St. Martin (St. Maarten) were working in close collaboration in response to the cases. Enhanced epidemiological surveillance has been carried out while measures to control mosquito breeding sites have also been increased and enhanced. People are also being advised on how best to protect themselves.
The dengue-like disease is characterized with 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. CARPHA received around ten notifications of confirmed cases of the locally acquired infection on the French side of Saint Martin.
The viral disease chikungunya is carried mainly by the Aedes aegypti mosquito and causes a dengue-like sickness.
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, Joint pain may persist longer with severe cases requiring hospitalization. This however is said to be rare.
