Zika virus epidemic now involves 72 countries, worldwide. Transmission is multimodal through mosquito bites and blood and body fluids. ZIKV causes Guillain Barre Syndrome and pregnancy complications including perinatal microcephaly. Diagnosis is complicated by subclinical infection in 80%, co-circulation with dengue and chikungunya fevers with similar presentations and cross-reactivity in serological tests. There is no cure, or preventive vaccine.

Background: Dengue fever is hyper-endemic in Jamaica with exponential rates of infection in successive outbreaks. The absence of local data and the potential for massive outbreaks in a country where a third of the population are children formed the basis for this study. 

Background: Chikungunya virus entered the Caribbean for the first time in 2013 and Jamaica experienced its maiden epidemic with Chikungunya fever in 2014. We aimed to describe the public health effects and describe the clinical features in children and adolescents in Jamaica.

Dengue, Chikungunya fever (CHIKV) and Zika virus (ZIKV) are all transmitted by the Aedes aegypti mosquito and are currently circulating in Jamaica. Jamaica has been experiencing a ZIKV epidemic since February 2016. At the University Hospital of the West Indies (UHWI), Kingston, Jamaica, a cluster of five cases of paralysis attributed to neuro-inflammation was noted amongst adolescents admitted to the Institution. Three were diagnosed with acute myelitis and one each with acute disseminated encephalomyelitis (ADEM) and Guillain-Barre Syndrome (GBS).

Background: Jamaica, along with the Americas, experienced major epidemics of arboviral diseases transmitted by the Aedes aegypti mosquito in recent years. These include: Dengue fever in 2012, Chikungunya fever in 2014 and Zika virus infection (ZIKV) in 2016. We present the emergence of the ZIKV epidemic in Jamaica and outline the national response.

Zika virus (ZIKV) epidemic now involves 72 countries, worldwide. Transmission is multimodal through mosquito bites and blood and body fluids. Zika virus causes Guillain-Barre Syndrome and pregnancy complications including perinatal microcephaly. Diagnosis is complicated by subclinical infection in 80%, co-circulation with dengue and chikungunya fevers with similar presentations and cross-reactivity in serological tests. There is no cure, or preventive vaccine.