Chikungunya cases confirmed in Haiti

PORT AU PRINCE, Haiti (CMC) – Haiti has confirmed 14 cases of the mosquito-borne chikungunya disease that has been affecting the region since it was first detected in the Caribbean in December last year.

Health Minister Florence Guillaume Duperval, speaking on Haiti radio, said that the government would soon begin a public education programme in a bid to alert citizens about the viral disease transmitted to humans by infected mosquitoes.

It causes fever and severe joint pain and other symptoms include muscle pain, headache, nausea, fatigue and rash. Persons experiencing such signs and symptoms should contact their health care provider.

Health authorities had been bracing for the disease after neighbouring Dominican Republic confirmed at least 150 to 200 cases since March.

The disease was first detected in the Caribbean in December 2013, in St Martin. Since then a number of regional countries including Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica and St Vincent and the Grenadines have reported confirmed cases of the painful illness most commonly found in Asia and Africa.