The Bolivia Departmental Health Service has reported their first imported chikungunya cases in the eastern city of Santa Cruz de la Sierra, according to a Prensa Latina report (computer translated).
The patients, two women and a man, belong to the same family and imported the disease from the Dominican Republic after spending a vacation in the well-known resort of Punta Cana.
“These are not native cases,” explained national epidemiologist Rodolfo Rocabado. “They’re three persons who live in the department of Santa Cruz; they visited Punta Cana, where they were bitten by mosquitoes that transmitted the disease.”
Prior to the Bolivian cases, 45 imported cases have been recorded in the Andean area and the Southern Cone of South America. In total, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) has reported 355,000 locally acquired chikungunya cases in Central and South America and the Caribbean since December 2013. For more infectious disease news and information, visit and “like” the Infectious Disease News Facebook page
