Interesting. I had just read about someone getting Dengue fever somewhere in St. Elizabeth, I suppose it's possible it was actually this...
"To date the Chikungunya virus has been confirmed in Anguilla, Aruba, Virgin Islands, Dominica, Dominican Republic, French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Martinique, St Barthelemy, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, St Maarten (Dutch) and St Martin (French)."
This was from the news is in today's Jamaica Observer:
http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/lates...-the-Caribbean
Here is a story about the initial outbreaks in the effected countries back in January.
http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/lates...ngunya-disease
Be sure to use your mosquito repellent, especially when visiting the islands mentioned above!
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Could be. The symptoms seem remarkably similiar. I got dengue back in 1998, and when you get it, you know it - the joint pain is wicked!Originally Posted by TAH
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Interesting, these are day biting mosquitos and here are the IAMAT prevention techniques:
"Prevention: Travellers should take measures to prevent mosquito bites both indoors and outdoors, especially during the daytime. Insect-bite prevention measures include applying a DEET-containing repellent to exposed skin, applying permethrin spray (or solution) to clothing and gear, wearing long sleeves and pants, getting rid of water containers around dwellings and ensuring that door and window screens work properly. There is no preventive vaccine against Chikungunya."
http://www.iamat.org/disease_details.cfm?id=25
IAMAT is the INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR MEDICAL ASSISTANCE TO TRAVELLERS - a non-profit organization.
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Scary stuff there. I usually seem to go fairly unaffected by mosquitos, but the misses seems to be a magnet for them (and sand fleas). Still, next year I'm packing the DEET.
IAMAT also issued a warning for the US about Dengue in January 2014:
"There is risk of Dengue in Miami-Dade County and Palm Beach County.
The first locally acquired Dengue infection was reported from New York (Long Island, Suffolk county). Cases of Dengue fever were reported in Cameron, Hidalgo and Willacy counties (Texas). Cases were also reported in Martin and Miami-Dade counties. For the latest information on Dengue fever outbreaks please go to: ProMED-mail. Dengue/DHF Update (08): Americas. ProMED-mail 2014; January 27: 20140127.2235169. http://www.promedmail.org . Accessed on January 28, 2014."
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Since 2012, the Jamaican health authorities have implemented strong mosquito eradication programs including the spraying of entire effected areas because of dengue.
I am sure some of you have heard the warning announcements and/or the clouds of spray, we were with some of you at Canoe one Thursday night during the webcast and caught the whole thing happening live.
If this disease would happen to make it to Jamaica, I am sure they will institute the same practice as an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure...
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As a follow up to the US dengue fever contactions, here is more on the Texas case. Please note that the USA CDC's prevention recommendations are nearly identical to that of the IAMAT:
USA (Texas)
Date: Thu 23 Jan 2014
Source: NBC News [edited]
http://www.nbcnews.com/health/dengue...ays-2D11980388
A Texas woman died last October [2013] from a rare complication of dengue fever, a reminder that the virus has spread to parts of the southern US, federal health officials said Thursday [23 Jan 2014].
Her illness was initially misdiagnosed as West Nile virus, another mosquito-borne illness recently imported into the US, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports. It's the 3rd known death from dengue acquired in the United States in 10 years, the CDC says.
The 63-year-old woman had traveled to Santa Fe in New Mexico and it's possible she was bitten by a mosquito carrying dengue there, CDC experts said. Dengue cases in the US are usually imported, but in this case the patient hadn't traveled to anywhere the virus is entrenched.
The World Health Organization estimates that 50 to 100 million people are infected with dengue each year. Most get a fairly mild fever but 500 000 develop hemorrhagic disease, which includes internal bleeding, and 22 000 die. In this case the woman developed hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis, a serious type of inflammation.
Her 1st symptoms were typical flu-like complaints -- fatigue, headache, leg cramps, fever, and chills. She tested positive for West Nile virus, but the CDC says it's possible that antibodies her body developed to fight dengue cross-reacted with the West Nile test.
Because people with flu-like illness so rarely get tested for anything, the CDC says no one knows how common dengue really is in the United States.
There's no specific treatment for either West Nile virus or for dengue, but the CDC says doctors need to be alert and that people traveling to areas with a risk of dengue should use bug repellent, stay inside with screens on windows and doors and empty water containers where mosquitoes breed.
[Byline: Maggie Fox]
--
Communicated by:
ProMED-mail from HealthMap Alerts
<promed@promedmail.org>
[Although the above report mentions Santa Fe, New Mexico as the possible locality where the woman was infected, no recent reports of dengue there have come to the attention of ProMED. However, there have been cases of dengue virus infection reported in her home state of Texas. Although dengue virus infections are infrequent in the USA, and deaths due to it rare there, dengue virus infection must be considered when cases like these occur.
The state of Texas can be seen on the HealthMap/ProMED-mail interactive map of the USA at http://healthmap.org/r/2Jna. - Mod.TY]
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Anyone with a compromised immune system should be protecting themselves no matter where they travel.
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