Local health authorities are on heightened alert for “indigenous” cases of chikungunya fever.
That is following a positive result in one of the 62 samples sent to the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA), in Trinidad, for testing between December last year, when the first case was reported in the region, and the end of May.
Minister of Health John Boyce yesterday told members of the media that the lone case recorded locally was imported through a male who arrived in Barbados on May 25 and had since returned to his country.
Boyce said local health officials remained in contact with both the Ministry of Health and chief medical officer in the country from which the man with the confirmed case came.
Barbados has a chikungunya jingle to sensitise people to the mosquito-borne disease, and it has also issued a travel advisory asking people travelling to places with confirmed cases to take the necessary precautions. (YB)
