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Health Ministry yet to confirm number of Chikungunya cases
Although the Ministry of Health has not officially confirmed the number of cases of Chikungunya Virus seen last year, there is no denying that there were hundreds of clinical cases recorded across the country.
Director of Vector Control Services, Dr. Reyaud Rahman, when asked of the actual numbers, during an interview with this publication, would only say that “it is over 100.” He went on to explain that the Ministry was only able to confirm cases after samples were sent to the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) in Trinidad to be tested.
The Director however, speculated that “our suspected cases I can imagine it is a couple of hundreds or in the thousands…I don’t have those figures, but it may be somewhere around there.”
It was early last year that Guyana was faced with an outbreak of the Chikungunya Virus after it was first observed in sections of the Caribbean.
A school in Berbice is being fogged to help combat the Chikungunya Virus
The virus is transmitted by the Aedes Aegypti mosquito, which is also known to transmit Dengue Fever. And like Dengue Fever, there is no cure for the virus but rather once infected, persons can be treated symptomatically.
According to Dr. Rahman, the virus is one that will remain among the vector control challenges faced by the health sector.
“It is not going to go away because Chikungunya is here in Guyana…” said the Director as he reiterated calls made by the Ministry of Health to ensure that members of the population support the on-going efforts of the Ministry to contain the virus.
“The public has to know that they need to play a huge part in all of this by ensuring that their yards and everything else is taken care of. Ensure that you don’t have receptacles, there are no tyres catching rain water, no stagnant water in the yard after rainfall; cut the grass, make sure that the black tanks are covered. If they can do those simple things we can help the situation tremendously,” asserted Dr. Rahman.
He said that based on national observations it is clear that the number of cases seen are declining.
“If we had 10 cases a week when the outbreak started we are now seeing about one per week. We are significantly not seeing as much because I think the public understands the disease a bit better,” said the Director. And this latter development, he noted, is particularly due to efforts on the part of the Vector Control Unit to conduct countrywide sensitisation programmes with citizens.
“With the knowledge and assistance we are sharing with them (citizens) are able to help themselves. So this is helping our efforts,” said Dr. Rahman as he related that during sensitisation sessions other vector-borne diseases are discussed.
“We don’t have to go around and tell people about one disease and then come back another time and tell them about another one. We are focusing on everything. Sometimes people even ask us about other health issues when we do these outreaches,” said the Vector Control Director.
“If people ask us about diabetes we will tell them about diabetes, if they have a question on high blood pressure we will tell you about high blood pressure, whatever the case will be…the bottom line is, that we are in health and we will address health.”
This tactic, according to Dr. Rahman, is not only helpful in ensuring that people are fully aware of how they can better protect themselves, but it also caters to realising “value for money” that is allocated to the health sector.
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