“People throw rubbish in the bush and the worse part of it is that this rubbish is non-degradable so it can stay there for three to five years."
A 14-year-old girl from Vaimauga has been “clinically diagnosed” with the virus known as chikungunya, spread by mosquitoes.
As a result, the Ministry of Health has raised the bar in its effort to ensure members of the public are protected.
Yesterday, Health authorities sprayed parts of the district of Vaimauga as part of its prevention efforts.
Further, the Director General of Health, Leausa Dr Take Naseri called an urgent meeting with health officials over the “potential case.”
According to Leausa, the girl was brought to the hospital on Tuesday night, when medical workers became suspicious.
“She had all the symptoms including the rash,” Leausa said.
The 14-year-old was apparently in American Samoa at the beginning of the month.
“We are waiting for confirmation (from the laboratory) but we are highly suspicious it’s the virus with its presentation and symptoms,” said Leausa.
“She had acute fever and rash and that called for an urgent meeting this morning (yesterday) with health officials to work together and work on safety and control alert.”
Asked if the girl is in a critical state, Leausa said no.
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Last week after they issued the first alert about the Acute Fever and Rash (AFR), officials immediately began their prevention work by spraying the international ports at Fagali’i, Faleolo and the Matautu wharf.
Some schools were also sprayed to reduce the source of breeding for mosquitoes that spread the virus.
Yesterday, the Director General called on members of the public to work with Health officials to reduce the number breeding sites for mosquitoes. He explained that the virus is carried by a mosquito typed called, aedes albopictus. The mosquito type is found in Samoa.
“We are doing a screening on people who have travelled here from American Samoa,” he said.
“In the meantime, we need the public’s support to help with source reduction and support what our people are doing at the wharves and ports of entry in terms spraying."
“We used to block away the area where the aircrafts are sprayed in American Samoa but that cannot be trusted with passengers saying nothing like that is done there so we are spraying here.”
Leausa also stressed that the mosquito can breed on 10 to 15ml of water.
“People throw rubbish in the bush and the worse part of it is that this rubbish is non-degradable so it can stay there for three to five years."
“These are breeding sites for mosquitoes and we urge people to remove them.”
Leausa also cautioned the public to wear protected clothing and mosquito repellant.
According to Leausa, officials from American Samoa have confirmed the presence of the virus there. They have already had two severe cases and one person has already died from it.
Because of the proximity of the islands the Ministry of Health is calling the public to seek medical advice immediately when they experience symptoms.
Such as; “fever, skin rashes, joint pains, generalised body aches, headaches and other less common symptoms.”
Clinical cause and outcomes
- Acute symptoms typically resolved within 7-10 days
- Rare complications include
hepatitis, uveitis, bullous skin lesions, Guillain – Barre syndrome
- Person's at risk for severe disease include
older adults, 65 years and older, and
persons with
underlying medical conditions (e.g. hypertension diabetes,
or cardiovascular disease)
- Some patients might have relapse of
rheumatologic symptoms in the month
following acute illness
- Studies report variable
proportions of patients
with persistent joint pains for months to years
Chikungunya and dengue
- Chikungunya and
dengue viruses are transmitted by the same mosquitos
- The viruses can circulate in the same
area and cause
occasional co- infections in the same patient
- Chikungunya virus more likely to cause
high fever, severe polyarthralgia, arthritis, rash and lymphopenia, shock and deaths
- Patients with suspected
chikungunya should be
managed as dengue until dengue has been ruled out
- Proper clinical management of dengue reduces the
risk of medical complications and death
- Aspirin and other
NSAIDs can increase the risk of hemorrhage
in patients with dengue.
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