The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday said travelers to the Caribbean should take precautions against chikungunya, a viral disease transmitted by mosquitoes that causes fevers and severe joint pain.
The centers said that there has been a surge in Caribbean nations of numbers of cases of the disease — which is most prevalent in Africa, Asia and the Indian subcontinent.
Haiti has seen infections of chikungunya grow to about 6,000 cases over the first five months of the year, while the Dominican Republic hit 40,000 over the same period, a stark increase of 82 percent and 380 percent respectively, over the same period last year, centers data show.
Chikungunya cases were also reported in St Vincent and the Grenadines, St Lucia, and St Kitts and Nevis, the centers said.
According to the WHO, chikungunya can cause fever and severe joint pain, along with muscle pain, headache, nausea, fatigue and rashes.
The disease shares some clinical signs with dengue fever and is easily misdiagnosed as dengue. There is no known cure, but treatment focuses on relieving the symptoms of the disease, the WHO said.
While Taiwan has confirmed four confirmed cases of chikungunya as of Monday last week, all imported from Indonesia and the Philippines, the centers urged people visiting the Caribbean to be on high alert and pay attention to personal hygiene.
The centers yesterday also urged the public to take precautions against dengue fever, as the season for the mosquito-borne disease approaches its peak.
With the nation in the grip of the plum rain season and the onset of hot summer months, water in unused containers should be drained often to prevent mosquitoes that carry the virus from breeding, the centers said.
Taiwan has recorded a total of 90 cases of dengue fever this year as of Monday last week, including 69 cases imported from Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Singapore, the centers said.
So far this year, Malaysia has reported 3.7 times the number of cases compared with the same period last year, while the number of Singaporean cases is 3.6 times the country’s five-year average, the centers said.
The centers also cautioned people planning to travel to Southeast Asia, as well as Brazil — the host country of this year’s soccer World Cup — to be on high alert, since the South American country has reported more than 300,000 cases as of April, including about 2,000 severe cases.
Dengue fever is an infectious disease spread by mosquitoes. In a small proportion of cases, the disease can develop into the life-threatening hemorrhagic dengue fever.
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