Chikungunya in the Americas: Might as well call it a million cases (or more)

Chikungunya in the Americas: Might as well call it a million cases (or more). HT: CROF.

PAHO has published a December 5 update on its Chikungunya page.

We are now at week 49, and as usual many of the countries are weeks or months behind: Haiti has stood its ground since week 28 (64,695 suspected cases), when the real total must be at least an order of magnitude higher.

Still we learn that as of week 49 the US had 11 local cases and 1,900 imported cases. 

The Dominican Republic, as of week 41, has 498,916 cases. El Salvador, on the American mainland, had 135,226 cases as of week 47.

 

All told, PAHO says, we have 975,678 suspected cases in the Americas, plus 18,892 that people took the trouble to confirm. 

 

ECDC reported the first autochthonous chikungunya cases in the Americas on December 20. The virus deserves our congratulations, however grudging, for having made so much of its opportunity in one short year. 

 

For its reporting on chikungunya, however, PAHO does not.

Just imagine once it starts spreading in the US!