Chik is Here

     Chikungunya fever is here. Florence Duperval, the Minister of Public Health and Population, made it official on May7. It was only a matter of time. Chik was already in the Caribbean and cases have been reported in the Dominican Republic so we were waiting for the last couple of months for the first cases to be reported in Haiti. Now it is official.

     The chikungunya virus is spread by Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus mosquitoes, the same mosquitoes that transmit dengue virus. According to the CDC (http://www.cdc.gov/chikungunya/), symptoms may include headache, muscle pain, joint swelling, or rash. People at increased risk for severe disease include people with diabetes or high blood pressure, two conditions that are very prevalent among Haitians.

     UF-EPI Haiti Lab 1-Gressier is ramping up for Chik surveillance. This week Millé, one of the Haitian technicians who works in the arthropod lab here, came in and pulled out all the mosquito traps. He spent most of a day just hooking up and re-charging the batteries needed for the equipment. 

Mosquito traps

Mosquito trapping equipment 

     We have been getting many anecdotal reports of Chik. Makendy told us that there are “lots of people” with really bad fever. Some people have muscle pains so bad that they cannot walk. Others complain that it feels like they are carrying a large weight on their shoulders. Several members of the family of one of the C’ville workers have the fever. The clinic at the C’ville school has reported at least 25 children with fever. Millé is trying to get the addresses of where the students live so that he can go out to their neighborhoods and set traps. Some of the students live as far away as Mariani (a suburb of PauP) and Carrefour Dufort (west of Léogâne). Chik is not likely to be a local disease.

     I think people are worried. Maybe not scared, but worried. This disease is new. The population is naïve and has never been exposed to this virus before. People will get sick.

     I had stopped using Deet a long time ago. Now I’m spraying it on every morning to try and protect myself from the mosquitoes. Just trying to be as safe as possible.