Tonight, all the news has been about Ebola, but Chikungunya is a much more real and present health danger. IT's swept across the Caribbean and caused a national emergency in Jamaica. And now privately conducted tests in Belize are coming up positive for it - but officially these are not being reported as Chikungunya because the tests - according to health CEO Peter Allen - are inaccurate:..
Dr. Peter Allen, Chief Executive Officer, Ministry of Health
"I am happy to confirm that in Belize we don't have any confirm cases yet and there are none confirm in Benque. We are aware that there are some reports of cases and we do have a concern about a test that some in the private sector are using, a rapid test for Chikungunya because it is not very sensitive and it is not very specific for the Chikungunya pathogen, the Chik V virus and the World Health Organization and the Pan American Health Organization gives the rapid test, the equivalence of a coin toss, so it's right in about 50% of the time and wrong in about 50% of the time, so it has very little value and we do not recommend it. But as of right now we do not have cases of Chikungunya, but the fact is that we are going to have cases of Chikungunya. Really it is just a matter of time and so we all have responsibilities for ourselves and for our community."
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