7th JULY 2014

I wish to bring further attention and awareness of the threat posed to The Bahamas by the Chikungunya Virus.  

The Chikungunya virus was originally discovered in Tanzania in the 1950s and remained relatively unknown for decades.  It is mosquito-borne alpha-virus transmitted primarily by the Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus mosquitoes, the same transmitters of the dengue virus.  Humans are the primary amplifying hosts for the Chikungunya virus, and most infected persons develop acute onset of fever and polyarthralgia, a symptom of arthritis.  The disease is like dengue fever, causing fever, rash and nausea, as well as joint pains that are usually bilateral and symmetric and can be severe and debilitating.  The symptoms of Chikungunya can last for months or years. Mortality is rare and occurs mostly in older adults.

Chikungunya was once isolated in Asia, Africa and the Indian subcontinent.  By 2007, the disease had spread to northeastern Italy, infesting 10 persons.  The disease has made it way to the Americas and is spreading rapidly.  

In December 2013, the World Health Organization reported the first local transmission of Chikungunya virus in the Western Hemisphere, with indigenous cases identified in Saint Maarten.   In the last six months, the Pan American Health Organization documented nearly 4,600 new cases of Chikungunya in the Caribbean.  Chikungunya is spreading rapidly on the French Islands of Guadeloupe and Martinique, accounting for 2,800 of new cases.  

It has been reported that there have been a total of “165,800 suspected and 4,805 laboratory-confirmed chikungunya cases from five jurisdictions: Dominican Republic (77,320), Martinique (35,000), Guadeloupe (35,000), Haiti (11,802), and St. Maarten (3,380).”

The highest incidences have been reported from St. Maarten (115 cases per 1,000 population), Martinique (76 per 1,000), St. Barthelemy (74 per 1000), and Guadeloupe (52 per 1000).

At least 20 states and islands of the Caribbean have confirmed new cases as of late June 2014, with 793 occurring on the French side of St. Maarten and 123 on the Dutch side.  According to the Caribbean Tourism Organization, Chikungunya is now in Anguilla, Antiqua and Barbuda, British Virgin Islands, Dominica, Dominican Republic, French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Guyana, Haiti, Martinique, Puerto Rico, St. Barthelemy, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Maarten, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, St. Martin and the US Virgin Islands. We have also received unofficial notification of local transmission of Chikungunya in the Turks and Caicos Islands.  

The progression of the sickness in the region is occurring at the rate of one country every seven to fourteen days.  The Bahamas has confirmed its first case of Chikungunya.  A tourist visiting from the Dominican Republic was admitted to the Princess Margaret Hospital this past weekend, the day after arriving in the country.

The Department of Environmental Health Services (DEHS) is aware of this threat to the health of the population.  In January 2014, DEHS implemented a heightened monitoring programme for Aedes aegypti at all ports of entry in The Bahamas in response to the alert of Chikungunya transmission in Latin America and the Caribbean.  This activity will continue. Additionally, the systematic monitoring of localities for mosquito breeding will continue and fogging exercises will be conducted for the established prevention protocols.  

The DEHS and the Department of Public Health and other relevant agencies of government have put together a Public Education programme that is already underway.   This initiative will be stepped up in the immediate future.  Members of the public has a responsibility to ensure that their immediate environment is not a breeding ground for mosquitoes, the carrier of this virus.  Ensure that empty containers, pots and garbage bins around your homes do not have settled water in them that can become breeding grounds for mosquitoes.

The Ministry of the Environment and Housing and the DEHS will continue to work with the Ministry of Health to contain the disease and to ensure adequate and optimum treatment of those who may be infected. The DEHS has also been instructed to “ramp up” its fogging programme throughout the archipelago.

END