Chief Medical Officer Dr George Mitchell says that Grenada is yet to record any case of the Chikungunya disease which is transmitted through the Aedes Aegypti mosquito.
“Neither private or public doctors have comes across cases but what we did was to conduct the Chikungunya test on suspected cases of dengue fever. After the test, we have had positive results for dengue fever, but none of the test came back as positive for Chikungunya,” he said. “So right now I can say that Grenada’s medical records have no suspected or confirm cases of the Chikungunya.”
Recent reports says that there are presently more than 130,941 suspect cases and 4486 laboratory confirmed cases of Chikungunya positive cases in 17 Caribbean territories.
“However, in the case of Grenada we are still free of it and remaining free is a partnership involving the general public because of the way it is transmitted. The public has to make it impossible for the mosquito to breed, and that is why we want householders to continuously keep their surroundings clean,” said Dr Mitchell.
The rainy season requires that the public become more vigilant, cleaning up and removing all waste so as to ensure that breeding grounds are not created for mosquitoes.
By Linda Straker
