Health Advisory- Zika Viirus

Symptoms usually appear after the incubation period of 3-12 days following the bite of an infected mosquito and last 4-7 days.

No deaths due to the Zika virus have been recorded worldwide to date.

The Ministry of Health and Environment therefore urges members of the public to do their part to prevent mosquito breeding and take personal responsibility to help to reduce any possibility of the introduction of the Zika virus into the island. There is no specific vaccine or treatment for the virus.

The Ministry further advises the public to take precautionary measures by inspecting their homes and yards weekly in order to identify and eliminate potential mosquito breeding sites indoors and outdoors. Water drums and barrels should be tightly covered and stagnant water in flower vases, old tyres, and other containers that might act as breeding sites should be thrown out.

The National Public Health Response and Surveillance team is on high alert and has begun reviewing and refining management strategies and guidelines which will shape the Ministry’s response in the event of the disease surfacing in Dominica.

National Pest and Termite Control, the agency engaged by the government to perform vector control services around the island has already begun placing Altosid - (a larvicide) in the utility ducts in Roseau. Fogging will begin on Tuesday May 26 at 4:30 am and continue on Wednesday and Thursday in the Roseau Health District. Fogging activities will be scheduled within other areas of high aedes aegypti mosquito infestation within the island.

 

The Zika Virus was first isolated in 1947 in a Rhesus monkey in the Zika Forest, Uganda. It was first isolated in humans in 1952 in Uganda and Tanzania. Outbreaks have been seen since then in the island of Yap (2007), French Polynesia (2013) and Brazil (2015).

For More Information contact:

  • Dr David Johnson
    Chief Medical Officer:
    Tel: (767) 266 3521
  • Anthony Scotland
    Chief Environmental Health Officer:
    Tel: (767) 266 3468
  • Dr Paul Ricketts
    National Epidemiologist:
    Tel: (767) 266 2150