Dengue Fever has been on the Increase in Southern America for many years and in 2018 there was a significant increase in confirmed cases in Jamaica. The Caribbean Public Health Authority has now issued an alert for the Caribbean indicating an outbreak of Dengue Fever may occur on any of the islands.

Published 5 years ago

The Caribbean Public Health Authority  (CARPHA)  are urging the Caribbean region to prepare for the possibility of a severe outbreak of Dengue Fever.

Dengue Fever has been prevalent in Jamaica for some time, but in 2018 there were 830 cases of Dengue Fever, including 7 suspected and 2 confirmed deaths. In addition, there has been an increase in the number of Dengue Fever cases throughout Latin America.

According to CARPHA, the last major Caribbean regional outbreak of Dengue Fever occurred in 2009. Since then, the region has suffered two large outbreaks of mosquito-borne diseases, Chikungunya in 2014 and the Zika Virus in 2016, both of which they state, are unlikely to reoccur soon.

CARPHA predict, “disease modeling predicts that another regional outbreak of Dengue may occur in the near future,” adding that last year Latin America showed an increase in the number of Dengue cases.

Most of the Caribbean Islands’ newspapers have issued alerts including those of St Kitts, Saint Lucia, Jamaica, Tortola, Trinidad, and Guyana.

Dr. C. James Hospedales, Executive Director of CARPHA:

“The most effective way to avoid becoming ill from viruses spread by mosquitoes is to prevent mosquito bites. Research carried out by CARPHA and the Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO) show that drums and tires are the main mosquito breeding sources in our countries.

“We all need to clean up our surroundings. The two most important things to manage mosquito populations in our Caribbean countries are to manage water storage drums and tanks, and properly dispose of used vehicle tires to prevent mosquitos breeding,”

WHO identifies Dengue Fever as a mosquito-borne viral disease transmitted by female mosquitoes. The disease does not yet have a cure but it can be managed with early detection and access to medical treatment. According to WHO symptoms include high fever followed by severe headache, pain behind the eyes, muscle and joint pains, nausea, vomiting, swollen glands or rash.

For further information see:

Caribbean Public Health Authority (CARPHA) – http://carpha.org

Dengue Alert Issued in Caribbean Region – https://face2faceafrica.com

Caribbean Countries Put on Alert over Dengue Fever Outbreak – http://www.virginislandsnewsonline.com