Days after a man was flown out of the country subsequent to being detected with suspected symptoms of the H1N1 virus (swine flu), Chief Medical Officer Dr. Shamdeo Persaud confirmed that the man was in fact affected by the virus.
Speaking on Thursday (December 31) at the end-of-year press conference of the Ministry of Public Health (MOPH), Dr. Persaud highlighted,
“The H1N1 virus, also known as swine flu, has been detected in Guyana, with one person already confirmed as having the virus.”
He explained that, after returning to Guyana from China, the 50-year-old man developed the symptoms (body aches, chills, cough, fatigue, fever and headache) within a two-week period, and was admitted to a private city hospital, but was later transferred to another private medical institution.
The Public Health Ministry was subsequently informed.
The Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) Laboratory in Trinidad returned the results on Wednesday evening.
As such, both the Ministry and the private hospital where the man was being treated are now taking measures to vaccinate their staff members, including doctors who were treating the sick man.
“We will be monitoring close relatives and persons who would have come in contact with him, but, at this point, there is no need for screening, because a case has not been confirmed,” Dr. Persaud explained.
While this is not good news for Guyana, Dr Persaud assured that there is no need to panic, as medical institutions are prepared to deal with such occurrences.
Among the symptoms for H1N1 are chills, fever, coughing, sore throat, runny or stuffy nose, body aches, fatigue, and diarrhoea.
The Public Health Ministry has been monitoring the situation over the last 12 months, and has not detected any other H1N1 case in Guyana.
Dr Persaud has said that the Public Health Ministry has had an active disease surveillance system in place, particularly at the main ports in Guyana – the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA) and the Ogle International Airport.
In dealing with the H1N1 virus and any other types of influenza, the Public Health Ministry has been using the “Keep Ebola and other Infectious Disease out of Guyana Strategy”, by implementing precautionary measures. That strategy focuses on six main areas: coordination and control; rapid detection, isolation and risk reduction; points of entry; clinical management; laboratory diagnosis; and information, education and communication.
“So we monitor all incoming flights, and what is mandatorily required is that the flight attendants provide, upon arrival of every commercial flight, general flight declaration. A significant part of that flight declaration is a health declaration for them to provide (information on whether) there was any sick patient on board, if there was coughing, or if any of the passengers would have experienced fever,” the CMO explained.
It was further pointed out that the Ministry has taken a decision to boost its medical team operating at CJIA Medical Centre. (Guyana Chronicle)
