Guyana’s health surveillance system gets kudos

Jan 29, 2016 News

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Although Guyana’s laboratory testing capabilities may be limited, its surveillance ability is certainly not in question. In fact it was the Ministry of Public Health’s efficient surveillance system that allowed it to detect early certain symptoms

manifested in patients that were consistent with emerging viruses.
Moreover, the Ministry with the support of the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) in Trinidad was able to detect one case of the H1N1 virus and one of the Zika virus.
“I would like to praise the public health system; if the system was not intact this case of Zika could have passed as anything, maybe dengue. If the suspicion index was not high it wouldn’t have been picked up,” said Resident Representative of the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO), Dr. William Adu-Krow.
Zika is transmitted by Aedes aegypti mosquitoes which have also been credited with transmitting the Chikungunya virus and dengue fever here.
Symptoms consistent with the Zika virus include fever, rash, joint pain, and or conjunctivitis. Other known symptoms are muscle pain, headache, pain behind the eyes and vomiting.
Once contracted there is no cure for the virus, but rather, complete reliance on treatment such as acetaminophen or paracetamol is warranted to relieve associated fever and pain.
But the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has warned that persons who are suspected to have the virus should refrain from taking non-steroidal anti-inflammatory (NSAIDs) drugs like ibuprofen and naproxen.
“Aspirin and NSAIDs should be avoided until dengue can be ruled out to reduce the risk of haemorrhaging. If you are taking medicine for another medical condition, talk to your healthcare provide before taking additional medication,” CDC has cautioned.
People who have been diagnosed with Zika should, as far as possible, avoid being bitten by mosquitoes for the first week of their illness.
The CDC has disclosed, too, that during the first week of infection, the virus can be found in the blood and passed from an infected person to others through mosquitoes’ bites. But according to the CDC, only one in five people infected with Zika is likely to become sick and deaths are especially rare. Those who do become sick are encouraged to get plenty of rest and drink lots of fluids to prevent dehydration in addition to taking prescribed medication.
According to Dr. Adu-Krow, one of the important aspects of dealing with this virus is to prevent the population from panicking. In so doing, he stressed, preventative measures must be adopted such as ensuring that breeding sites for the transmitting vector are removed. The proper covering of black tanks and clean water sources is important as is the disallowance of exposed stagnant water for more than three days.
In addition to this, the PAHO Representative warned that “if you don’t have to travel to an area that is endemic don’t engage in that travel. If you are in an area that has the vector that transmits dengue as well as Zika, just adopt the protection measures…”
He added “the main issue now is educating the public in terms of preventing Zika because you cannot treat it except treat the symptoms so that’s basically what we are trying to do.”
According to the PAHO Representative, the priority areas of focus have been helping with health promotion and disease prevention.
It has been this same tactic that PAHO has embraced to support the Public Health Ministry’s fight against the H1N1 virus, according to Dr. Adu-Krow. But according to him, it hasn’t been PAHO alone supporting the Ministry since other developmental agencies including the United Nation’s Children Fund (UNICEF) have been making contributions.
“I know UNICEF donated some money to build a response office, like a war room, where data can be gathered during a crisis, and I think that is a place that is still in progress,” said Dr. Adu-Krow.
Coupled with a vigilant surveillance system, he noted that Guyana should be in a position to easily detect symptoms of emerging viruses.
“This system is one that can capture what is happening within the country, so for instance if we didn’t have any system and somebody came in with a flu-like symptom and we said ‘oh it’s just flu’ and we didn’t bother with it, the H1N1 virus could have flourished without being picked up,” Dr. Adu-Krow emphasised.
But because of a proper functioning surveillance system that deals with what happens at ports of entry, gathering data and comparing it with levels that were seen before, the Ministry was able to detect and possibly help to arrest the spread of the viruses.
“A lot has been done by the Ministry, a lot has been done by PAHO but not only PAHO, by other partners as well,” said Dr. Adu-Krow as he disclosed that PAHO has been instrumental in bringing together stakeholders to help the efforts of the Public Health Ministry too.
“I remember we also brought lots of teams together…when you are dealing with things like the foot and mouth disease you definitely can’t only work with the Ministry of Public Health. We had to bring in the Ministry of Agriculture (and) other sectors…to look at their various surveillance systems,” said the PAHO Rep.
But according to him, “Only God knows, the virus is always evolving and we could come up with a new strain. It may so happen that we may find a strain that has never been found anywhere else.” He however stressed that the work done in the past and the ongoing efforts could in fact be Guyana’s salvation to dealing with emerging viruses.

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