As the number of suspected chikungunya cases continue to rise, Guyana has documented 81 confirmed cases of the mosquito-borne virus, PAHO Country Representative Dr. William Adu-Krow said yesterday.
Adu-Krow said, in addition to the 81 cases, authorities were looking at 500 unconfirmed cases. “We are probably dealing with a case load about 500,” he said, while noting that the increase has caused them to stop testing for the virus in the labs and instead divert to using a syndromic approach by treating on presentation of the symptoms.
Health Ministry officials have not been available to Stabroek News to provide figures on the latest number of confirmed cases of the virus.
Adu-Krow told Stabroek News that PAHO was doing its best to offer assistance to the health authorities here and to educate the population about the viral disease, and as such has offered the Ministry of Health scholarships for two laboratory technicians to study at the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) in Trinidad.
He stated that technicians would be trained to test chikungunya samples for two weeks to a month in Trinidad. Adu-Krow said he met with Health Minister Dr. Bheri Ramsaran on Thursday to discuss sending the technicians to Trinidad and the minister signalled his intention to have it done as soon as possible.
He said PAHO was now waiting on an official nomination from the ministry. “It will take about two weeks before we get the names and then another two weeks to make arrangements with CARPHA to send them up,” he said, indicating that once the technicians return they would be skilled enough to test the samples instead of Guyana having to send them to CARPHA.
CARPHA, however, he said was already aware of their plans and was prepared to lend their support.
Adu-Krow also expressed concerns about the population’s awareness of the virus. He said even though the health authorities have done a lot there was still more to be done. “I don’t think we have done enough health education, health promotion and risk reduction,” he added, explaining that some people are unaware about this disease.
Recently, he said he spoke to Dr. James Hospedales, and the CARPHA Executive Director had expressed his concerns about the spread of the virus in Caribbean. He said that Hospedales said the spread of the virus was “so crippling that if we don’t take care we would have a sizable population of the workforce at home”.
He said even though fogging was a good preventive measure, it only kills the adult mosquito while the larvae are allowed to grow and evolve into adults which would eventually carry the virus. “The fogging is not going to get to all those mosquitoes hiding in the house, we have to do something about our own surroundings…otherwise the fogging alone would not do anything,” he said, appealing to people to use their bed nets and insect repellents.
He said the best way to go about it is to prevent being infected. CARPHA has sent out a warning to the Caribbean to be prepared for the “full impact” of Chikungunya.
The number of countries reporting cases of the viral disease continues to rise and to date 9139 confirmed cases have been reported with 946 cases coming out of 20 CARPHA member countries, and 8193 from 11 other countries. With 643,211 suspected cases, CARPHA has recorded 37 deaths.
Hospedales told the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC) that almost all CARICOM countries have reported cases of the virus and they were looking to have expert consultations next month to “look at all the plans and also to see how we better inform and protect people and protect the economy of the region”.
Chikungunya, a virus carried by the aedes aegypti mosquito, causes severe joint pains and fever, much like dengue fever. Symptoms include a sudden high fever, acute pain in the joints, muscle pain, headaches, nausea, and rash. The joint pain is more common with chikungunya than with dengue. The symptoms surface between four to seven days after the bite of an infected mosquito and last for 3 to 10 days. However, the joint pains remains a little longer.
Since the viral disease surfaced 31 weeks ago, CARPHA has recorded 195 and 41 cases in Venezuela and Suriname respectively. French Guiana has recorded 2206 cases.
CARPHA, in an advisory, stated that upon suspicion of a chikungunya case, vector control activities in and around the residence of the case should be intensified to reduce the mosquito infestation levels.
Persons are asked to use insect repellents and wear long-sleeved shirts and long pants. They are also advised to sleep under mosquito nets and keep their surroundings clean so as to prevent the vector from breeding.
