The Ministry of Health, Wellness and the Environment says the national response to the chikungunya outbreak must be prioritised in order to efficiently utilise resources.
“In this regard, the professionals within the Insect Vector Control Unit have increased fogging operations and other forms of source reduction on the mainland and also in the Grenadines,” the ministry said in a press release.
“In addition, on the island resorts where vector control activities are carried out by the developers, the professionals within the Ministry are performing the role of regulators.
“However, with the continuous increase in chikungunya occurrences throughout the country, operational plans are already being implemented for State direct intervention of vector control operations on islands such as Canouan, Mustique and Palm Island,” the ministry said.
The ministry further said its decisions were made as it continues to analyse the distribution of chikungunya occurrences throughout the country.
Chikungunya (Makonde for “that which bends up”) is an infection caused by the Chikungunya virus. It causes an illness with an acute febrile phase lasting two to five days, followed by a longer period of joint pains in the extremities; this pain may persist for years in some cases.
Chikungunya is spread through the bite of the aedes aegypti mosquito. Symptoms include fever, headache, muscle pain, joint pain and swelling and rash.
Wat about central leeward? ? Chickunguna making pregnant ppl un able to walk . Why they aint fogging here especially barrouallie?
It has come to my attention that the North Leeward Community is presently being overwhelmed by the Chikungunya yet in this ‘national prioritized response’ no mention is made of doing anything for the people of North Leeward.
What priority?. I heard MP Cummings several times mention that for the 2014 budget the gov’t has cut the monies for sanitation and vector control, that to me means layoffs, less fogging and less cleaning.
The following was written in response to the spread of chickungunya. Please check it out.
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Mosquito
net does not work. These insects crawl through the tiny holes in window screens
and mosquito nets. I became aware of this during my last vacation in SVG. Many
people love to keep flower pots in homes and close to houses, and those pots
are good breeding ground for mosquitoes. Mosquitoes can crawl like ants and
they do. They can avoid mosquito repellents by crawling into small holes and
under clothing. One has to smoke them out to beat them. A fan or anything that
blows air is a good weapon to combat mosquitoes. The governments should allow,
duty free, small machines that attracts and destroy the female mosquito. These
machines operate within an area of 1/2 acre. If several homes are equipped with
these machines it will reduce and eliminate the problem. In SVG the government
should use the so-called environment tax money to equip every house with one of
these machines. This will be money well spent and it will reduce the
health cost to the government.
The meeting that T&T PM is asking for should seriously look at teaming up to order these machines from China, Hong Kong or Japan. In North America these machines cost close to $200. I am sure a big order for all Caribbean and South American countries will see the price at less than $20US.
Please, will somebody pass this info to those who can make this thing happen to control the mosquito issue? Tourism is already being affected with Canada warning Canadians about the disease. I am sure other countries are giving their citizen the same warning.
I am also wondering if mosquito can transmit Ebola. It took less than 6 months for chikungunya to spread throughout the entire Caribbean, including part of the US and most of South America. I hate to think of what can happen if that scenario is possible.