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Chikungunya virus cases confirmed

Published:Tuesday | July 15, 2014 | 12:00 AM
In this undated file photo provided by the USDA, an aedes aegypti mosquito is shown on human skin. Health officials said the mosquito-borne chikungunya virus has spread widely across the region. - AP photos

PORT OF SPAIN, CMC

Trinidad and Tobago has become the latest Caribbean Community (CARICOM) country to record cases of the Chikungunya virus after the the disease was first detected in the region last December.

Health Minister Dr Fuad Khan said that the Caribbean Public Health Agency had confirmed the three cases.

"The Ministry of Health has already been in contact with these patients to ensure the appropriate clinical care is received. Through our Insect Vector Control Division, we have begun the work of minimising the spread of the vectors through the implementation of appropriate integrated vector management strategies," Dr Khan said.

He added the disease, which is preventable, is spread by the very vectors which spread dengue and appealed to nationals to take appropriate measures to ensure their environment is clean and that they do their best "to stop mosquitoes from breeding in your homes, your schools, your neighbourhood and our country".

Dr Khan said the authorities have launched "a robust health- promotion campaign" to ensure that citizens have the "necessary knowledge to be so empowered to protect you and your families from this disease".

The mosquito-borne illness was first detected in the Caribbean in December 2013, in St Martin, and since then, almost all CARICOM countries have reported cases of the disease.