CASTRIES, St Lucia (CMC) — St. Lucia has recorded its first case of the mosquito-borne disease, chikungunya.

However, the national epidemiologists in the Ministry of Health, Nehum Jn Baptiste, said the authorities were urging the public not to panic.

“We do not want to create any panic. It is because of our efforts with respect to strengthening the surveillance that we are now able to detect much quicker, not only chikungunya but dengue, leptospirosis and some of the other diseases that present with similar symptoms,” Jn Baptiste said.

Symptoms include a sudden high fever, severe pain in the wrists, ankles or knuckles, muscle pain, headache, nausea, and rash. Joint pain and stiffness are more common with chikungunya than with dengue. The symptoms appear between four to seven days after the bite of an infected mosquito. The majority of clinical signs and symptoms last three to 10 days, but joint pain may persist longer. Severe cases requiring hospitalisation are rare.

The first case of the disease in the Caribbean was reported in the French island of St. Martin last year. Since then it has spread to several countries with Dominica Tuesday urging nationals to adhere to measures to prevent the spread of the chikungunya disease on the island.

Chief Medical Officer Dr David Johnson said that while there were 81 confirmed cases, more than 500 suspected cases were also being dealt with.

“So far we have confirmed 81 cases and the confirmation I refer to is laboratory confirmation…but these are not all the persons who have the disease. There are a lot more persons who are presented with the disease.

“In fact the numbers that we have so far indicate that we have over 550 suspected cases. So in addition to the 81 confirmed cases…we also have a number of other suspected cases,” he said.

In a statement, the Ministry of Health here said that given the trends of inter-island travel, it has adopted a proactive stance in anticipation of this disease surfacing here.

“Everyone is vulnerable. I want to take this opportunity to reactivate, re-alert, re-sensitise persons with respect to reducing the source of breeding for those mosquitoes.

“The message that we have been constantly speaking to the public with respect to controlling the dengue fever it’s the same control measures that we need to have with respect to chikungunya,” Jn Baptiste said.