SANTA CRUZ, St Elizabeth — Parish manager for the Social Ddevelopment Commission (SDC) in St Elizabeth Alric Miller is expressing delight with the turnout for a Zika virus awareness meeting held at the SDC office in Santa Cruz recently.

“It went very well, well attended with well over 100 people,” Miller told Observer Central.

The stakeholders’ awareness meeting was hosted and organised by the SDC in partnership with Member of Parliament for St Elizabeth North East Raymond Pryce.

Presentations were made by health sector leaders, Pryce, and other relevant agencies, Miller said.

The Jamaican Government has announced plans for a vector control programme and a public education campaign to attempt preventing the mosquito-borne Zika virus from reaching Jamaica, and if it does, to minimise the impact.

The virus, which is said to have caused a recent health scare in Brazil, is spread by the bite of an infected Aedes Aegypti mosquito. That’s the same mosquito which spreads Dengue and Chikungunya. Zika virus symptoms include: severe fever, joint and muscle pains, headaches, rashes and conjunctivitis. These symptoms usually appear within three to 12 days following a bite.

Jamaica’s Ministry of Health is urging Jamaicans to clean up their environment as part of an anti-mosquito drive.

Health officials say Jamaicans should destroy mosquito breeding sites by filling old tyres with dirt, or getting rid of them and any other container in which water can settle; punch holes in tins before disposing of them; change water in vases and clean them regularly to destroy mosquito eggs; and carefully cover water-storage drums, barrels and tanks.