AMERICA/VENEZUELA - Poverty, few infrastructures and precarious preventive measures: fertile terrain for Chikungunya virus

Saturday, 6 December 2014

Caracas (Agenzia Fides) – Cases of the Chikungunya virus (acute fever) registered in Venezuela are double those found in 37 other countries. According to the All-American Health Organisation, the pandemic can be considered an epidemic since official sources say more than 15% of homes are seed beds for the mosquito which carries the virus. So far one million cases have been registered, but it is thought that another affected million people do not report to health centres. The virus has spread rapidly in Caribbean countries and in part of Latin America. Haiti is proving particularly vulnerable due to overcrowded and unsafe housing in appalling hygiene conditions, the ideal breeding ground for Chikungunya carrier mosquitoes.
Scarce basic infrastructures, precarious mosquito control measures and deep-lying social and economic inequality, hamper both prevention and treatment efforts. Since the registration of the first case of Chikungunya virus in Haiti in May, 40 more suspected cases have been reported. The only other areas where more cases have been reported are neighbouring Dominican Republic and Guadalupe. Unfortunately there are signs that the actual number of cases in Haiti may be much higher. This country has a population of 10 million living in crushing poverty, without clean water and at least 146,000 people still in makeshift dwellings following the earthquake in 2010. (AP) (6/12/2014 Agenzia Fides)


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