Chikungunya

Many of you have already heard about Chikungunya, 'bone breaking fever,' a mosquito-borne illness like Dengue that's showed up in several Caribbean islands, including Haiti. It's not lethal, but causes a lot of joint pain and fever - which is serious in itself for people here, because a week in bed means a week out of work or school. There's no vaccine so the best (and only) prevention is avoiding mosquito bites.

For us in the guest house, with our screened windows and mosquito repellant, that's easy. But our biggest concern is the children, especially during the rainy season (now), when mosquitos breed and run amok. We'll be moving fast to do some training with the public health team, but we're short on the tangibles - netting and fumigation supplies and such. If any of you have expertise in that area, or access to anti-mosquito supplies, we'd be appreciative if you drop us a line.

Thanks for your support and concern.