Blackspot

Suspected Chik V outbreak at police station

DEON P GREEN

STAR Writer

Police officers and some inmates at the Yallahs Police Station in St Thomas were tested last week against fears that they may have contracted the Chikungunya disease.

The Ministry of Health has recorded 85 suspected cases and have so far got 24 confirmations for Chikungunya from the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA). The parishes for which confirmations have been received are St Thomas, St Catherine, St Ann and Kingston and St Andrew. Fifteen samples are awaiting testing and the other cases are under investigation.

Medics summoned

Medical personnel were reportedly called in at the Yallahs Police Station to check for the disease, after several persons in custody showed signs and symptoms of the mosquito-transferred illness.

Reports reaching The weekend Star are that two of the inmates were suspected of the disease and were rushed to the Princess Margaret Hospital for treatment. The inmates were said to be extremely weak with high body temperature. They were treated and returned to custody.

With several known mosquito-breeding grounds in St Thomas including the Yallahs area, an informed source told The Weekend Star that the Yallahs lock-up has been infested with mosquitoes.

Bad thing - good people

Family of Sutherland and Lodge stupefied by killing

Family members of the slain businessman, Derold Lodge, and the RJR Communications Group sales representative, Felicia Sutherland, have described them both as easy-going individuals.

In a phone interview with Lodge's sister, Charmain, who lives in the United Kingdom, she said her brother was conducting business in Jamaica.

"He is a pretty easy-going chap. He sort of kept himself to himself. He travelled quite a bit," she said, explaining that she couldn't understand how he could have died so gruesomely.

Sutherland's sister described her as quiet and non-confrontational. She too was at a loss as to how somebody could harm 25-year-old Felicia.

"She wasn't a person involved in any dispute with anyone that I know of," she said, adding that the family was trying to deal with her death.

Sutherland, who recently joined the RJR Communications Group in the sales and marketing department of JNN and RE-TV, and Derold Lodge were found dead Sunday morning in Red Hills, St Andrew, with their feet and hands bound.

It is believed they may have been strangled.

Chairman and Derold Lodge