St. Maarten

updated on October 30, 2008

with original reporting by Woodshed Warriors Barbara Cannegieter and Keala

The Dengue epidemic on St. Maarten continues to tighten its grip on the 37 square mile island of 30,000. The Dengue infection rate, which has been climbing for months, has now reached another peak.

On Thursday, the Dutch health authorities announced that the number of laboratory Confirmed Cases for the period October 01 to 18 had jumped to 72. The Dengue Action Response Team (DART) has estimated that the number will top 100 by the end of this month. There were 48 laboratory Confirmed Cases in September.

2 persons have already passed on the Dutch side, one from Dengue Hemorrhagic Fever (DHF); the other, a 54 year old male visitor from the Netherlands died as a result of the most serious complication of the disease there is, Dengue Shock Syndrome (DSS).

DART has further intensified its intervention strategies in response to what St. Maarten’s Health Commissioner Maria Buncamper-Molanus has called “a real situation.”

Surveillance has been enhanced with house-to-house and construction site inspections, a more aggressive public awareness campaign and an island-wide clean-up.

Buncamper-Molanus:

“If you do not take any measures to prevent mosquito breeding, you are not only putting yourself at risk but that of your family and neighbours as well. If you take the attitude that you won’t get dengue fever, I would say, first look around at your surroundings to see if you have mosquitoes. Take measures to prevent mosquito breeding and you and your family will have a higher chance of not becoming infected.”

The Dutch government has reassigned some public servants in order to come with up to 30 plus teams of two to deal with the situation. (Source: Visitor believed to have succumbed to dengue)

The inspections, which begin in Pointe Blanche on Friday, October 31, 2008 from 08:00 in the morning till noon each day, are expected to cover 15,000 households by the end of the campaign.

A release from the health authorities that was reported on by the St. Maarten Daily Herald indicate that “each inspection team will be led by a team leader (who) will be identifiable by a badge.” The release goes to state that “residents who are at home during the time of inspection will be provided with information about dengue fever and symptoms and how to identify the mosquito that carries the virus…Persons who are not at home when inspectors call will receive a letter that they were there and what their findings were after the yard inspection, and what preventive actions need to be taken in and around the home as well as inside.”

Fogging will be conducted in Guana Bay and Black Bay on Thursday, October 30 provided that the weather holds up. Cay Hill, Cul de Sac have already been sprayed; Pointe Blanche and Philipsburg too by all reports.

Dengue 1, Dengue 2 and Dengue 4are currently circulating in St. Maarten says TheDailyHerald.com. This poses an additional risk to St. Maarteners because it means that a significant percentage of the population may have had a previous bout with Dengue. And remember, it is usually the second infection that can develop to the potentially lethal complications of DHF and DSS.

Administrator’s Note:

Reading the St. Maarten forums, I get the impression that residents of the island believe that fogging alone is the answer to the Dengue epidemic.

Well, the fact is that fogging provides only a temporary relief from a mosquito infestation and does little to nothing to curb the actual breeding of the Dengue mosquito, the Aedes aegypti.

This mosquito breeds in clean/clear water such as is kept on private premises for bathing, washing and so forth. Therefore, it is essential that everyone look around their premises for any containers with clean water. And if there are any containers around that householders need to keep, then it is their sole responsibility to “protect” them in order to prevent the mosquitoes from laying their eggs. If the containers are not needed, they must be eliminated and dumped in the prescribed manner.

I have put together a detailed Container Checklist for Mosquito Control that householders could follow as a guide when conducting their premises inspections.

St. Maarten has published a guide of its own, which is reproduced below.

      • debris, old tires and standing clear/clean water in yards are the main source and breeding grounds for mosquitoes, bringing about an increased risk of mosquito-borne diseases. These areas should be immediately eliminated.

      • Immediately check for clear/clean standing water in roof spouts, empty drums, buckets, jars, birdbaths, boats, plant containers, saucers, paint cans and other items that can collect water around your homes and businesses. Where clear/clean standing water exists, one can use small amounts of kerosene, just to cover the surface, as a measure to prevent mosquito breeding or just get rid of the container.

      • In the case of where containers are used for storing water, residents should keep these properly covered and check every three days to make sure that mosquitoes have not laid any eggs.

      • Inlets and outlets of cisterns must be covered with a mosquito net or cloth to prevent mosquitoes from breeding in the water.