Chikungunya has to date claimed four lives from complications of the mosquito-borne virus and is spreading across the Caribbean with St. Martin taking extreme measures of vigilance to contain any further cases in the French or Dutch sides of the tiny nation. The disease was first reported in the French island of St Martin since its very first confirmatory reports back in 1952 in Africa.
In addition, Grenada’s Health Minister Dr Clarice Modeste-Curwen is leading on the formation of a task force to examine ways in which the virus can be contained, prevented and managed.
And according to Dr Calum Macpherson, the vice provost of St George’s University (SGU) and director of (WINDREF), “This is a terrific initiative because the better prepared you are the faster you are going to make a response, the faster you make a response the fewer the cases are going to be so having all the experts together to come up with appropriate solutions that are affordable, appropriate for our situation in Grenada,” he said.
The disease has not been reported in Grenada to date.
Dr George Mitchell, the chief medical officer in the Ministry of Health also says the multi-talented task force was a timely development and indicated that the group on the task force brings a wealth of experience that would undoubtedly be invaluable in assisting Grenada in preventing the disease. Many of those on the task force have experience with mosquito- borne illnesses including dengue fever.
Sixty-six (66) cases of the disease have been confirmed in Dominica and the Ministry was working very hard to contain the virus there.
The task-force includes representatives from the Ministry of Health, Community Nursing Department, Pharmacy, SGU Epidemiology, the Grenada Port Authority, the General Hospital Laboratory, WINDREF, Environmental Health – Vector Control Division and Health Promotion.
The task-force held its first meeting last week. Dengue and other mosquito borne diseases were also discussed at that meeting.
