News Americas Now, New York, NY, Wednesday, June 18, 2014- The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) is reporting 165,990 suspected cases of chikungunya in the Caribbean. The June 13, 2014 PAHO report lists the Dominican Republic with a total of 77,320 suspected cases followed by Guadalope with 35,000 suspected cases and Martinique, also with 35,000 suspected cases.
The report notes that there were a total of 2,918 confirmed cases in the Caribbean region. Martinique has 1,515 confirmed cases and Guadalope has 1,328 confirmed cases. According to the report, there have been 14 confirmed deaths with 9 of these deaths in Martinique alone.
Chikunguya is a viral disease transmitted by the bite of infected mosquitoes such as Aede aegypti and Aedes albopictus. It can cause high fever, joint and muscle pain, and headaches. Chikungunya does not often result in death, but the joint pain may last for months or years and may become a chronic pain or disability.
There is no specific treatment for chikungunya infection, nor any vaccine to prevent it. Pending the development of a new vaccine, the only effective means of prevention is to protect individuals against mosquito bites. According to PAHO, the disease was first detected in Tanzania in 1952.
