Jamaica has reported it 1st fatality linked to the mosquito borne virus, chikungunya, according to a report in the Jamaica Observer Tuesday.

Aedes mosquito
Aedes aegypti image/CDC

The report states that a  a third year English student from Christiana, Manchester, who attended Shortwood Teachers’ College in St Andrew died from chikungunya.

The student, identified as Tracey-Ann Campbell, was reportedly an asthmatic.

According to the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), as of Friday, Jamaica has seen nearly 400 locally acquired chikungunya cases and two imported.

Chikungunya has become such an issue in Jamaica that now the Health Minister is saying he wants the painful virus. In a comment made yesterday, Health Minister Dr Fenton Ferguson said he’d like to be infected so he knows what the population is going through.

The minister said “when you hear about the different symptoms that people tell you about” as a leader he would like to experience what they are going through.