PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad (CMC) – The Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) on Thursday confirmed that presence of five cases of the mosquito borne Zika virus in a territory of the Caribbean Community (Caricom).

This is the first time Zika has been detected in the region.

“Zika virus has been detected in Brazil and it was expected that it was just a matter of time before it arrived in the Caribbean Community. This is because we have abundant travel in and out of the region and we also expect that it is going to spread,” said CARPHA’s executive director, Dr James Hospedales.

He added that the basic conditions have not changed – “Mosquitoes breeding in and around houses and we have a susceptible population. This is a virus like chikungunya that the population has not met before so there is wide spread susceptibility and lack of resistance so we expect it to spread.”

While not naming the country with the five cases, Hospedales urged the public to inspect their homes and yards weekly, and eliminate potential mosquito breeding sites indoors and outdoors by keeping water drums and barrels tightly covered, and throwing out stagnant water from flower vases, old tyres, and other containers that might act as breeding sites.

He revealed that CARPHA will launch a mobile game called Zap-a-‘quito to assist in educating the public, particularly children, on the Aedes aegypti mosquito and its potential breeding sites, at a vector-borne diseases workshop, which will hosted by CARPHA next month.