The Chikungunya virus has been circulating since 2013 in the Caribbean region. The situation is stabilizing in most of the Antilles, with the exception of Guyana where epidemic outbreaks are increasing.
The Regional Health Agency and the Institut de Veille Sanitaire are taking stock of the circulation of the Chikungunya virus in the French West Indies for the first two weeks of July. The most alarming case is that of Guyana where a 47% increase in confirmed or probable biological cases was observed during the first week of July compared to the previous week, which places it in phase 2 of the surveillance, alert and management of epidemics (Psage). This phase corresponds to “moderate autochthonous transmission with epidemiological foci and localized chains of transmission”.
The epidemiological study also indicates a progression in Guadeloupe and Martinique, but with a trend of stability over the last weeks, see downward for the weeks to come in Martinique. In Saint-Martin and Saint-Barthélémy, the first islands in the Antilles where the virus has started to spread, traffic has been moderate and stable over the past two two weeks. These areas are qualified as a generalized epidemic ”, which corresponds to phase 3 of Psage.
39 deaths recorded in the West Indies since December 2013
The epidemiological study records 23 deaths caused by Chikungunya in hospital, including 3 in Saint-Martin, 13 in Martinique and 7 in Guadeloupe since December 2013. In addition to this assessment, 16 deaths have been recorded in the city. In these same islands, the number of “clinically suggestive” cases is in the thousands (3,000 in Saint-Martin, 48,000 in Martinique, and 63,000 in Guadeloupe). “We are at a key moment in this epidemic: we have the means to limit it. The best solution is to protect yourself and avoid the spread, ”said Minister of Health Marisol Touraine, visiting the West Indies on Thursday on Radio Caraibes.
The Chikungunya virus, which has been circulating since December 2013 throughout the Caribbean, has already affected 115,000 people in the Antilles.
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