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Guyana gets confirmation of two H1N1 cases
As was anticipated by Health Minister Dr Leslie Ramsammy, the H1N1 virus, familiarly referred to as Swine Flu, has finally made its way here, making Guyana the last Caricom country to have experiences with the global pandemic.
Minister Ramsammy told this newspaper yesterday that specimens of the two suspected cases were confirmed by the Caribbean Epidemiology Centre (CAREC) in Trinidad.
He disclosed that the specimens were among a group of 26 that were sent abroad for testing.
According to a release issued by the Health Ministry yesterday, it was at 14:00 hours last Saturday that Guyana reported to the International Health Regulation Focal Point at the World Health Organisation (WHO) that the first two cases of the H1N1 virus had been identified.
It was detailed in the release that both reported cases reside in Georgetown and were traced to international contacts.
“In both cases, we believe the original sources came from outside of Guyana. In neither case did the persons seek medical attention in Guyana and in both cases the persons left Guyana.”
However, it was highlighted that the local persons that were identified as Guyana’s first two confirmed cases sought medical attention at private hospitals. They have been contacted and have been treated for H1N1, the release added.
And according to Minister Ramsammy, while the Ministry continues with its original plan to monitor the virus, it has now incorporated the contact-tracing feature.
This measure, the Minister related, means that the Ministry has examined all of the persons who have been in contact with the two persons infected with the virus in order to prevent the possibility of it spreading.
So far, there is no evidence to suggest that anyone who was in contact with the infected persons have contracted the virus.
The Minister had opined several weeks ago that H1N1 would arrive in Guyana. However, he is confident that his Ministry’s surveillance programme is capable of containing the spread of the virus.
Last month, the Ministry had disclosed that five specimens which were sent abroad for testing had returned with negative readings.
At that time, the total amount of specimens that were sent abroad was 14, an amount which subsequently increased to 26.
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