BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – THE Federation is once again on alert for the Chikungunya virus as there is an increase in the number of reported cases of the viral disease in the Caribbean region.
Information reaching SKNVibes Health, states that the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) is reporting increases in the number of confirmed and probable cases of the Chikungunya virus in the Caribbean.
In an epidemiological update on “autochthonous cases of Chikungunya fever in the Caribbean region” on Saturday, the ECDC said that as of Thursday, last there were 201 “probable or confirmed cases” in French St. Martin and two confirmed cases on the Dutch side of the island.
According to the ECDC, there were some 48 “probable or confirmed cases” in Martinique; 25 “probable or confirmed cases” in St. Barthélemy; 10 “probable or confirmed cases, including one imported case from St. Martin in Guadeloupe”; and one “confirmed case imported from Martinique in French Guiana.
This is the first time that the Chickungunya virus has been known to be in the Caribbean and the outbreak was first reported in December in the French portion of the St. Maarten.
According to the ECDC, risk assessment of the outbreak published in December concluded that the risk of the disease spreading to other islands in the region was “high”.
“Since then, new Chikungunya cases have been reported from several islands in the Caribbean,” it said, adding that Chikungunya transmission was detected during “an ongoing dengue outbreak in the Caribbean”.
The ECDC said Dengue and Chikungunya viruses are transmitted by the Aedes aegypti mosquito species.
“The naïve population, the presence of an effective vector in the region and the movement of people in and between islands are factors that make it likely the outbreak will continue to spread geographically and increase in numbers,” the ECDC warned.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the United States said it was “closely following new reports of the mosquito-borne Chikungunya virus among residents of the French side of St. Martin in the Caribbean and has issued a travel advisory to its citizens travelling to the French and Dutch-speaking Caribbean island.
