Cryoelectron microscopy reconstruction of Chikungunya virus
(Wikipedia)
With the growing concern
and anxiety about the
impact of the Chikungunya virus in the Caribbean
as figures for infection crossed the one million
mark in just under a year,
UWI TODAY
focuses
on public education in this issue. Because of the
newness of the virus to the region – the first case
was reported inDecember 2013 – there is still a lot
of ignorance about its nature,and a lot of rumours
have been flying about like mosquitoes and of
course, everybody has “the cure.”
But while it is not a fatal virus, per se, the
Chikungunyaeffectmight bemuchmoreprofound
than it seemed, and true to its contortionist’s features, it
might really play a significant role in ‘reshaping’the
region.
Dr James Hospedales
, Executive Director of
the Caribbean Public Health Agency, the regional body
that has taken a lead role in informing and directing
management, warns that because of its capacity to
complicate existing ailments and weakened areas, it will
result in higher mortality rates, especially among the
elderly, when the figures come in.
He has also complained that there are not nearly
enough resources to cope with the strain on the public
health systems regionally and it bodes ill for the capacity
to manage. There has to be a new approach, he
says, to Chikungunya, Dengue and vector control,
and to epidemic control.
“Chikungunya is here to stay,”he says.
Inthesenext eightpages,compiledby
Vaneisa
Baksh
, we try to present as much of the available
information on the virus and its implications for
the region’s overall epidemic control. Doctors,
patients, scientists, economists, pharmacists and
public health officials have contributed in oneway
or another to providing data on what they have
encountered in its wake.
The
Chikungunya
Effect
Chikungunya is here to stay...
there has to be a new approach
UWI
TODAY
SPECIAL REPORT
Chikungunya
virus in the Caribbean
