THE Ministry of Health has dismissed claims from Opposition spokesperson on health Senator Marlene Malahoo Forte that another mosquito-borne disease — the ZikaVirus (ZikV) — has reached Jamaica.

At a press conference on Thursday, Malahoo Forte said she had been reliably informed that three cases had been confirmed.

“I have heard that there are confirmed cases of the ZikV here… I got a call from someone whose employee was tested, and I’m reliably advised that it is a confirmed case. In fact, at the time when that case was confirmed, it was the third. I was called out of genuine concern,” she stated.

But Friday, at a joint press conference with the Ministry of Education to provide an update on the outbreak of hand foot and mouth disease in some schools, Health Minister Dr Fenton Ferguson said that the advice he has received from his technical team suggests that Malahoo Forte’s information is incorrect.

“In fact, outside of Brazil, there have been no cases confirmed in any country in the Latin American and Caribbean region, including Jamaica,” Ferguson said.

He added that if a case of ZikV is confirmed in the island, the ministry would inform the country.

The health ministry reported last Wednesday that a sample sent to the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) to investigate a case of a “potential mosquito-borne viral illness” had tested negative for all three viruses that are spread by affected aedes agypti mosquitoes — dengue, chikungunya, and ZikV.

Chief Medical Officer Dr Marion Bullock DuCasse said the sample was sent for testing as a precaution. “We are taking the precaution to rule out these diseases, in particular the Zika Virus. The ministry has heightened its response, given that this is the period where we usually see an increase in mosquito-borne illnesses,” she said in a press release.

In May when the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) put the Caribbean on alert for ZikaV, which had broken out in Brazil, Malahoo Forte warned that the Jamaican Government should be very concerned about the threat to a population, which had already been severely impacted by ChikV.

The most common symptoms of ZikV are fever, rash, joint pain and red eyes. Experts say the illness is usually mild with symptoms lasting from several days to a week and that hospitalisation is uncommon. Outbreaks have occurred in Southeast Asia, Africa and the Pacific islands.