Cricket World Cup may bring mosquito-borne viruses to Caribbean
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| Published on Saturday, March 10, 2007 |
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By Jason Gale
SINGAPORE (Bloomberg): The Cricket World Cup starting in the Caribbean this week may attract unwanted visitors: mosquito-borne viruses capable of setting off epidemics.
Doctors are strengthening surveillance for diseases such as malaria, dengue fever and chikungunya across nine Caribbean countries that are expected to draw about 70,000 visitors from five continents for cricket's largest event, according to a report in the March 8 Eurosurveillance Weekly.
"Some of the visitors are coming from countries where infectious diseases are either endemic or capable of creating an epidemic," said the editorial team at Eurosurveillance. "There is a risk of visitors importing diseases into the countries hosting the event or into nearby tourist destinations."
Visitors who import illnesses may also be improperly diagnosed and managed by doctors unfamiliar with their symptoms, the authors wrote in the online journal of peer-reviewed information on communicable diseases.
The International and Tropical Department at France's Health Surveillance Institute and the Inter-Regional Epidemiology Unit for Antilles-Guyana will provide increased disease surveillance until the April 28 final.
Malaria, dengue fever and chikungunya present the highest risk for widespread transmission during the tournament, the authors wrote. The concern with dengue, which is present in the Caribbean, is the introduction of new variant, they said.
Visitors from Europe, Africa, Asia, North America and Australasia are expected to attend the World Cup's matches in Barbados, Antigua, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, and Trinidad and Tobago. Sixteen national teams will take part in the tournament, which starts March 13. | | | | Reads : 444 | | | |
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