A painful mosquito-borne virus, common in Africa and Asia, has advanced quickly throughout the eastern Caribbean in the past two months.
Public health experts say this has now raised the prospect that a once-distant illness will become entrenched throughout the region.
Chikungunya Fever, a viral disease similar to dengue, was first spotted in December on the French side of St. Martin and has now spread to seven other countries. About 3,700 people are confirmed or suspected of having contracted it.
It was the first time the malady was locally acquired in the Western Hemisphere.
Experts say conditions are ripe for the illness to spread to Central and South America.
Dr. C. James Hospedales, Executive Director of the Caribbean Public Health Agency in Trinidad, has stressed that it is a significant development when a disease moves from one continent to another.
According to Dr. Hospedales, the disease is likely to remain in the region, as that is the pattern observed elsewhere.
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