Revelation 6:7,8 NCV When the Lamb opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, "Come!"8 I looked, and there before me was a pale horse. Its rider was named death, and Hades was following close behind him. They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill people by war, by starvation, by disease, and by the wild animals of the earth.
What doctors feared could happen in the Caribbean with the chikungunya virus has become a reality: the disease has obtained a foothold.
Doctors across the Caribbean are reporting over 4,000 cases of the mosquito-borne virus that causes high fever and intense joint pain. While 4,000 cases have been confirmed, there have been at least 31,000 other cases that have not been laboratory confirmed.
The painful illness is mostly found in Asia and Africa. The first case in the Caribbean was detected in December in St. Martin in a resident who have traveled back home from Africa.
The disease, while rarely fatal, causes severe joint pain that can last for months or years. In some cases, the pain is so significant that it leaves the patients unable to walk.
Doctors say the virus has no vaccine.
Doctors with the CDC are monitoring the situation where they say the virus is spreading in an “uncontrolled” manner. They advise anyone travelling to the Caribbean to make sure to wear heavy amounts of mosquito repellant and to make sure they refresh that protect on a regular basis.
Health officials in the region say that once a virus becomes entrenched in a region, it is extremely difficult to eradicate it. The area’s wet season is also coming up when it sees a major rise in the mosquito population.
