| The People’s Progressive Party (PPP) has called for the government to request a team of Pan American Health Organization/ World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO) experts to assess the country’s capacity to respondFogging exercise being conducted for vector control.to the Zika virus and the potential for it to spread.This was communicated during the party’s weekly press conference at Freedom House yesterday and comes in the wake of Minister of Health, Dr. George Norton’s reporting to the National Assembly on Thursday that the Zika virus had been detected in Guyana.The party’s General Secretary, Clement Rohee, stated that in addition to PAHO/WHO experts, the intervention of the Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network (GOARN) should be sought.Rohee was adamant that this assistance will be important to strengthen Guyana’s institutional capacity to detect the whereabouts of the Zika virus locally, as well as to keep an eye on its potential circulation.“Concerns have been raised about the health sector’s capacity to cope with the detection and potential spread of the virus throughout the national territory,” Rohee said. “Guyanese must exert greater pressure on the administration to do much more to prevent the spread.”Last week, the Vector Control Services had commenced fogging for vector control purposes, in areas including Kingston, Cummingsburg, Bel Air Gardens and Springs, Prashad Nagar, Kitty, Ogle, Timehri, North and South Sophia and other areas.Warnings about the dreaded Zika virus which causes a dengue like illness – fever, headache, skin rash, red eyes and muscle ache– have also been in the public domain. In addition, priority health care is being given to pregnant mothers and there have been warnings to citizens about how to control the spread of the Aedes Aegypti and Aedes Polynesiensis mosquitoes.According to Rohee, however, the current measures in place are “woefully inadequate.” He noted that the fogging exercises are sparse and inconsistent and he was adamant that geo-scientific methodology is not being applied to conduct these exercises.Rohee was also critical of the government having to send blood samples to a lab in Trinidad for testing. This is despite the fact that this was a common practice under the previous administration whenever blood testing had to be done for crime fighting or health care purposes.In light of this, Rohee was roasted about his party’s performance in the public health sector while in Government.Responding to queries about the PPP record with developing the country’s health care sector, Rohee said, “There is the famous adage, the king is dead,Air Max 97 Silver Bullet For Sale, long live the king,” he said. “That means that when a government changes you (new government) inherit all that was done,Wholesale Nike Air Max 97, all that was not done and all that was partly done.”“I find it interesting for persons, whenever challenging issues are raised, to turn to the performance of the PPP in order to justify why something is not being done.”When pressed to answer the question directly, however, Rohee refused to comment further.During his address, Dr. Norton had indicated that on Tuesday (January 12),Air Max 97 Undefeated White, his Ministry was informed by the Caribbean Public Health Agency’s Laboratory in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, that it had detected the presence of the Zika Virus in a sample of blood from Guyana. The sample was taken on January 4, 2016.Dr. Norton had stated that the virus was detected in a 27-year-old female who hails from Rose Hall, Corentyne, Berbice, but also resides at Covent Garden,Mens Nike Free Run, East Bank Demerara. The Minister had also given assurances that there have been checks to ascertain the condition of the patient and family members.In addition to fogging and larvicidal treatment methods in the patient’s area, the Minister had related that fogging exercises were proceeding apace in Region Four, as well as household inspections, education drives and the distribution of long lasting insecticide- treated bed nets to pregnant mothers and households with children under five years old.While studies are ongoing and are being planned to educate people about the virus, evidence is growing that it may cause the catastrophic birth defect called microcephaly (reduced brain size). In 2015, Zika virus RNA was detected in the amniotic fluid of two fetuses, which indicates that it crossed the placental barrier and that fetal infection is possible.In December 2015, the PAHO/WHO noted that the transmission of Zika virus infection had occurred within nine countries— Brazil, Chile (specifically Easter Island), Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Paraguay, Suriname and Venezuela. The organizations’ recommendations had been for surveillance, case management, and prevention.On January 15, last, the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a level two travel alert for people traveling to regions and countries where Zika virus transmission is ongoing: Brazil, Colombia,Nike Air Max 1 Ultra Flyknit Womens, El Salvador, French Guyana, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Martinique, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Suriname, Venezuela,Argentina World Cup T-Shirts, and Puerto Rico.According to the CDC, Brazilian health authorities reported more than 3,500 microcephaly cases between October 2015 and this month. Some of the affected infants have had a severe type of microcephaly and some have died. |
