Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) Executive Director, Dr. James Hospedales, yesterday announced that the health agency has scaled up its capability to meet the increased demand for testing of Chikungunya within the Caribbean, in light of the evolving epidemic.
CARPHA, in a statement, said contrary to media reports, the agency continues to test for the Chikungunya virus. It stated further that Dr. Hospedales said that CARPHA adheres to public health surveillance principles, and once several persons with Chikungunya have had their diagnoses confirmed through laboratory testing in an area within a country then testing would only be carried out for certain groups of people based on clinical symptoms.
He said that they test based on criteria such as: newly affected areas of countries, to confirm that the virus is present and circulating in that community and people who are severely ill and hospitalized along with pregnant mothers who are suspected of contracting the viral disease.
He noted that if a dengue test turns out positive it is unlikely that the person would be tested for chikungunya, stating that it was not necessary to test every single case.
CARPHA, the only public health laboratory in the English-speaking Carib-bean conducting tests for Chikungunya, partners with Caribbean Airlines and LIAT to transport specimens for testing at its laboratory in Trinidad and Tobago.
