PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, Friday June 20, 2014, CMC – Haiti has recorded nearly 40,000 cases of chikungunya, according to figures released here by Friday by the Ministry of Public Health and
It said that as a result of the 39,343 cases of the mosquito borne disease, MSPP officials met with the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO-WHO), UNICEF, the Embassy of Taiwan and other organizations to determine what assistance could be given to the French-speaking Caribbean Community (CARICOM) country.
PAHO-WHO, through its representative, Dr. Jean Luc Poncelet, has donated three million doses of paracetamol for the management of patients with the Chikungunya epidemic, while Taiwan said it would provide US$100,000 to support the fight against the virus.
On June 13, PAHO reported that there were 12,000 chikungunya cases in Haiti.
The mosquito-borne illness was first detected in the Caribbean in December 2013, in St Martin, and to date the virus has been confirmed in Anguilla, Aruba, Virgin Islands, Dominica, Dominican Republic, French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Martinique, St Barthelemy, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, St Maarten (Dutch) and St Martin (French).
The Trinidad-based has said the chikunguyna virus has reached epidemic proportions in the Caribbean. Symptoms include a sudden high fever, severe pain in the wrists, ankles or knuckles, muscle pain, headache, nausea, and rash. Joint pain and stiffness are more common with chikungunya than with dengue.
The symptoms appear between four to seven days after the bite of an infected mosquito. The majority of clinical signs and symptoms last three to 10 days, but joint pain may persist longer. Severe cases requiring hospitalisation are rare.
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