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Eighteen vector borne disease specialists and public
health professionals from Bangladesh,
India, Indonesia, Maldives,
Sri Lanka and Thailand together with experts from WHO SEARO
and Headquarters shared their knowledge and experience on chikungunya
fever in Aurangabad, India from 27 to 29 September.
Chikungunya fever has re-emerged
as a serious public health problem after an interval of nearly two decades.
Recent outbreaks of chikungunya fever in the region
were observed in Thailand
in 1995, in Indonesia between 2001-03 and in India, the outbreaks of chikungunya fever started in December 2005 with nearly
1.4 million suspected cases reported from 13 states and 210 districts. Even
now in 2007 reports of suspected and confirmed chikungunya
are being received in India.
Sri Lanka and Maldives have not been spared with the Maldives
reporting its first outbreak in December 2006. The recent emergence of chikungunya in Italy’s
northeast region of Ravenna
which has accounted for around 166 cases with 27 laboratory confirmed tests
has shown that the spread of chikungunya across
continents can not be ruled out.
The meeting was an opportunity for a frank exchange of
information, lessons learnt by the affected countries coupled with the
epidemiological knowledge on chikungunya fever.
Lack of in-depth epidemiological information and surveillance of chikungunya, non-availability of simple rapidly applied
commercial kits for diagnosis and the lack of capacity in member states are
the major impediments towards a successfully controlling and preventing chikungunya.
The discussions brought forward a need to develop
guidelines at the SEA (South East Asian) regional level for the prevention
and control of chikungunya. In addition, it was
pointed out that there is a need to undertake research to better understand
the disease including development and implementation of surveillance systems,
strengthening the laboratory and the public health capacity of member states.
The member states were urged to develop a national strategy and plan in
accordance with the regional strategy as an integral part of a national
vector-borne disease control programme.
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