You probably aren't familiar with the disease called Chikungunya – and it's not surprising since it is foreign to Belize – and until November of last year – it hadn't even appeared on this side of the world. But now it has: Chikungunya, or Chik-V as it is called, appeared on the Caribbean island of St Martin at the end of last year, and it has been steadily spreading since then; it is now in 10 Caribbean countries, with 2,300 confirmed cases and about 17,000 suspected cases. Thankfully, there have only been 6 deaths reported. The viral disease is carried by mosquitoes, just like dengue or malaria and it spreads either by the travel of infected persons, or in shipping containers.
The good news is that it hasn't come to Belize yet, or, for that matter, anywhere on the American mainland, but the bad news is that Belizean health authorities say it will come. They had a sensitization session with health workers this morning and a press conference this afternoon. The Director of Health Services says that conditions are ripe for Chik-V in Belize:…
Dr. Michael Pitts - Director of Health Services
"So, Belize has no case, but I must say that we have all the environmental conditions. We're tropical just like the Caribbean. The mosquitoes are there; the environmental conditions are there, and the level of interaction is happening where I think that it is really safe to say that it's not if, but when it will come here."
Dr. Francis Murray - Focal Point Communicable Diseases, Ministry of Health
"The most specific things that we can get is that usually, what we're doing is compared to almost having the same symptoms as that of dengue. It's just that the person can get a fever that can be a bit higher, but the person has severe, prostrating joint pain."
Dr. Michael Pitts
"The public health concern is that it lasts much longer when people get the disease. For example, dengue may last 7 to 10 days. But Chikungunya, with signs and symptoms, could last sometimes up to 6 months. So, imagine if you have a worker with Chikungunya; you have to see them leave work for 6 months."
So what can you do to keep Chik-v out of your life? Well, it's just like malaria and dengue: you have to get rid of all those breeding grounds for mosquitoes. Pitts explained:
Dr. Michael Pitts - Director of Health Services
"We can't get rid of the mosquito; it's here. So, our general approach is to try and mitigate the numbers. We could do things around our environment to limit growth of mosquitos. So, we know that old receptacles, pans, cups, tires, etc. are breeding areas for mosquitos. We know that the drain that is not necessarily flowing, or the collection of water, we need to do certain things about those. So, our approach will be to engaging municipalities, whether at the level of villages, or town boards, or Cities, to engage them in being involved in clean up campaigns. The average citizen can do their part in terms of getting rid of the clutter around their houses. From our side, we will augment that where it is difficult to remove stagnant water, we would do our part by spraying. Of course, we still have our foggers will go out and do the fogging."
Chik-v is a viral disease, so antibiotics are of no use. There is no vaccination against it, and pretty much the only thing that affected persons are advised to take are non aspirin painkillers and anti-inflammatory medicines.
The deaths so far have been recorded in the islands of Martinique, Guadeloupe and St. Martin.
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