Medical Director of the Department of Health, Tamasoali’i Dr. Joseph Tufa said that all it takes for American Samoa to protect themselves from mosquito borne diseases such as Zika is to keep their residences and environment clean.
He said people should now be aware that mosquitoes are the carriers of viruses like dengue fever and chikungunya and their number one defense from these diseases is to maintain cleanliness by getting rid of places where mosquitoes breed.
An official from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. Robert Chen, arrived Monday night to help the Department of Health respond to the Zika virus.
In the span of under a month, there have been 25 suspected Zika cases recorded by DOH .
However there’s been no confirmed case… off island lab tests to confirm the suspected cases have not been performed.
Lab specimens have not been sent off island, due to what Scott Anesi epidemiologist said at a press conference yesterday was complications with the process of sending specimens to Honolulu for testing.
He had told KHJ News earlier that the Honolulu lab which American Samoa uses had not been paid.
But New Zealand has confirmed that one of its nine cases of Zika has been traced to American Samoa.
DOH is investigating that report and Anesi points out the 46-year-old male had transited in Apia before traveling to NZ.
Dr. Chen of CDC says what’s important is that the response to protecting the public is already happening and DOH is not waiting till the tests have confirmed the presence of this virus in the territory.
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Chief Compliance Officer of DOH, Papali’I Marion Fitisemanu said they will again work with other departments as they did during the dengue and chikungunya outbreaks to get families to clean their own environments and get rid of mosquitoes.
