The Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) yesterday denied the agency had stopped testing for chikungunya cases in the country. CARPHA director, Dr James Hospedales, defended the organsation’s operations during a press conference yesterday at its office at Jamaica Boulevard, Federation Park, as he explained its testing policies followed public health principles. Addressing claims by principal medical and public health officer attached to the Diego Martin Regional Corporation, Dr Anthony Chang Kit, on Wednesday that CARPHA was overwhelmed with the number of cases in the country, Hospedales said: “CARPHA has not stopped testing. The current testing policy is that we test from newly-affected areas of a country to confirm the virus is present and circulating in that community. “We test people who are severely ill and in hospital and we are testing for chikungunya and dengue in pregnant mothers suspected of having these diseases.”
He added: “CARPHA has not stopped testing. This has been the policy in place from the beginning. What it does mean is that we don’t test every single case as we don’t have the resources for that and from a public health point of view, it is not necessary. “Once it is confirmed in a particular community, then the prevention methods can be introduced. We have faced a big increase in testing and we have scaled up our capability to do that.” Admitting CARPHA did not accept specimens for testing from communities where chikungunya was already confirmed to be circulating, Hospedales said 37 deaths as a result of the virus had been reported across the region.
Unable to say exactly how many confirmed cases there were in T&T, he said CARPHA was depending on the Ministry of Health to furnish it with final statistics. In a release from the ministry yesterday, officials said there were 42 confirmed cases in Trinidad and one in Tobago. However, this information is at odds with the figures reported by chairman of the Diego Martin Regional Corporation, Darryl Smith, who confirmed on Wednesday 34 cases in his district, and deputy mayor of the Port-of-Spain Corporation Keron Valentine who confirmed yesterday 24 cases in his area as up to September 6. Coupled with the initial three cases which were imported into the country and the one from Tobago, the total number of confirmed cases stands at 62.
The release added: “Reports that have indicated larger numbers are based on unverified information of suspected cases.” The ministry endorsed Hospedales’ explanation concerning testing for the virus as it wrote: “The Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) has issued guidelines in keeping with international best practice which state that once there is confirmation of a circulating virus, it no longer becomes necessary to conduct laboratory tests on every case from that location. Diagnosis is then made based on clinical assessments by a physician.” Asked yesterday how the authorities would be able to ascertain the exact numbers suffering from this virus, CARPHA director of surveillance, disease prevention and control, Dr Babatunde Olowokure, said there would always be an “under-estimate” in identifying real numbers.
Along with Hospedales, Olowokure advised citizens to use mosquito repellant and treated bed nets and to rid their homes of any items which could provide a breeding ground for mosquitoes. Elaborating about the long-term impact of chikungunya on the economy and the tourism sector especially, Hospedales said productivity would be affected by infected employees not reporting for work, which would increase the amount of money Government would be forced to disburse in the form of NIS payments. Warning that chikungunya should not be taken lightly, Hospedales advised while there was no need to panic, individuals had to take responsibility to ensure their homes and surroundings were cleaned.
Following a protest by members of the San Juan/Laventille Regional Corporation outside the Insect Vector Control Division’s office, Cunupia, yesterday, calling for increased spraying and clean-up operations to be carried out, the ministry said: “While we recognise the desire of the population to have areas sprayed more regularly, it must be noted that spraying is routinely done on a three-month schedule.
