Where CAP is working

Tropical Bont tick eradication activities were initiated on Anguilla and Saint Kitts and Nevis in 1995, Montserrat and Saint Lucia in 1996, and Antigua and Barbados in 1997. One CAP country, Dominica, has eradicated occasional infestations, and a national eradication programme has been implemented in Saint Maarten, Netherland Antilles. Plan Poseidom is a complementary programme conducted by the French to eradicate the Bont tick from the islands of Guadeloupe, Martinique, Marie Galante and Saint Martin.

Saint Kitts and Nevis, Montserrat and Saint Lucia are in the final stages of eradication. Having completed the two-year routine treatment phase, they are now implementing quarantine and surveillance activities. Until regional eradication has been achieved, careful surveillance will be required in islands that are now being freed of the tropical Bont tick, and in neighbouring islands thought to be free of the parasite. The English-speaking islands should all be moving into the surveillance phase within the next two years, joined by the newest members of CAP, the medium-risk neighbouring islands of Trinidad and Tobago, Saint Vincent, Grenada, Saint Eustatius, Saba, the British Virgin Islands and Barbuda.

Throughout the Caribbean, tropical Bont tick eradication programmes have been proven to be effective. The tick has been eliminated from Puerto Rico and its islands of Culebra and Vieques, as well as Saint Croix in the United States Virgin Islands. However, experiences have shown that once eradicated from an island, the tropical Bont tick can make a comeback, which is why elimination of the tick from the region is so important to maintain the investments of time and money made in the difficult task of eradication. Saint Croix and Puerto Rico have both suffered reinfestations, which were followed again by successful eradication campaigns. Currently both islands are tropical Bont tick-free.

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7 October 1999