The chikungunya outbreak sweeping across the Caribbean and Latin America is yet to peak, with projections for many more cases emerging well into the new year.

That’s according to the Executive Director of the Caribbean Public Health Agency, CARPHA, Dr. James Hospedales.

Dr. Hospedales says the mosquito-borne chikungunya virus that first emerged in the region last December will become endemic.

Dr. Hospedales says CARPHA had predicted that the transmission of the virus would be swift and widespread.

He says that prediction, has come true.

Towards the end of last month, there were approximately 15-thousand confirmed cases in countries across the region and 750-thousand suspected cases.

Dr. Hospedales says despite the staggering number of confirmed and suspected cases across the region, the authorities may not be privy to what’s really happening on the ground.

The CARPHA head says some persons self-medicate, while other are a-symptomatic, meaning they contract the virus but show no signs of illnesss.

Dr. Hospedales was speaking last evening at a Public Forum at the Courtleigh Auditorium in New Kingston.

It was put on by the Medical Association of Jamaica.

In the meantime, the CEO of the Private Sector Organization of Jamaica, Dennis Chung, has estimated that the chikungunya virus has cost the country 7-billion dollars in lost productivity.

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