There are fears that there may be outbreaks of Chikungunya and Dengue in Dominica following the passage of Tropical Storm Erika which devastated the island on August 27.
Chief Medical Officer, Dr. David Johnson, is concerned that these diseases may resurface at this time due to the improper storage of water.
“A lot of us have been storing water in drums and sometimes these drums are not covered and it increases the chances of the breeding of the mosquitoes, the Aedes Aegypti mosquito,” Dr. Johnson said.
He said the Ministry of Health is monitoring the situation very aggressively.
“We are increasing the campaign as it relates to source reduction of the Aedes Aegypti mosquito,” he stated. “We have suffered very severely from Chikungunya, the same mosquito that causes Dengue is the same one that causes Chikungunya.”
Dr. Johnson noted that presently there are no reported cases of Chikungunya but an outbreak is possible if measures are not put in place.
Some of these measures include covering of drum used for storing water and ensuring areas around homes suitable for breeding mosquitos are cleaned.
Health Authorities have already reported an outbreak of Gastroenteritis on the island with a total of 153 confirmed cases, while there are three suspected cases of Leptospirosis in the wake or Erika.
Dominicans have only themselves to blame. Many are to stupid (or too religious — same thing) to accept that mosquitoes are the danger, and they continue to leave uncovered water around.
Please stop being so disrespectful on this website. You chose Dominica, you wrote about Dominica, you blogged about Dominica, you raved about Dominica but when you got here, for all sorts of reasons personal to yourself and which we don’t want to know, you left with your wife and sold your house. You came to ‘live the dream’ and escape all you hated about America but then returned there with your tail between your legs because it didn’t work out here afterall. Now, if you can’t say anything nice about the country that you originally chose to live out your days, because you just couldn’t adapt, which is nothing to be ashamed about, because a lot of expats don’t, then please don’t comment at all. As we expats all say ‘Dominica is not easy’ but we all freely chose to live here so we either put up or shut up. To leave and then make extremely rude comments about the people being too stupid or too religious, just shows you can’t quite say goodbye to us afterall. I wonder…
Stirling, all well said from now on this sad HYENA will keep his big mouth shut ……….