New Zika warning

By Michelle Nurse On Apr 28, 2016

A Regional health official today warned of a possible rise in the number of Zika cases once the rainy season begins in June.

And chairman of the University of the West Indies (UWI) Zika Task Force Professor Clive Landis said when it does Barbados and its Caribbean neighbours must not be caught unawares.

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a meeting enlisting the support of religious organisations in the fight against the mosquito-borne disease, Landis acknowledged that there was a current lull in infections but no let up in efforts to ensure that countries were in a state of readiness.

“Currently it is spreading in the Caribbean at the lower level . . . but then it is extremely dry right now. So since we are at the faith-based session today, God is doing the job for us, but at some point he is going to listen to the other constituents – maybe the farmers who are crying out for rain – and rains will come and when they do we expect the spread of Zika to pick up. And we wish to be ready with our monitoring and surveillance that we can pick up whether there is an increase in these health concerns that we are worried about,” Landis, deputy principal of the UWI Cave Hill Campus, said.