Despite the rate of dengue cases in Guyana being above normal since March, Advisor to the Health Minister, Dr Leslie Ramsammy on Friday stated that it does not yet need to be classified as a crisis.
“From March to now, there has been an increasing number of cases per week. We had a little drop-off in June but basically, we are at an above-normal rate since March. In the Region of the Americas, dengue has been going up steadily year to year and since last year, there’s been an upward trend and so, Guyana has now joined that upward trend,” Ramsammy said, in an interview with this publication.
Thus far, in Guyana, the Health Ministry has conducted some 8000 tests for dengue across the country, with about 1800 of those returned positive.
“The number of cases hospitalised over the last two weeks has fallen off. Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne) had two cases last week. There were no hospitalised cases in Region Six, [specifically]. At Georgetown Public Health Corporation (GPHC), we’ve had over the last few months, on a daily basis, one or two cases, hospitalised. But it’s not a phenomenal number,” Ramsammy said.
While the number of hospitalisations is reportedly slightly higher than that of last year, Dr Ramsammy expressed his hope to maintain this over the last two weeks.
“We have a problem, not yet a crisis. But it’s something that people should be aware of,” Ramsammy said.
Dengue is a viral infection that spreads from mosquitoes to people. While most people who get dengue will not exhibit symptoms according to the World Health Organisation (WHO), for those who do, the most common symptoms are high fever, headaches, body aches, nausea and rashes.
Dr Ramsammy noted that since many persons who have dengue do not have symptoms, the number of cases in Guyana may be even higher than recorded.
“Over 90 per cent of the people with dengue are not going to show any kind of symptoms or not enough for them to go to the hospital. But whether you have symptoms or not, you are a reservoir for the parasite,” Dr Ramsammy said.
“So, I would say, because we have dengue circulating more than normal at this time, that anybody with fever, anybody with headaches and body aches, should check it up at the health centre, or the hospital,” Dr Ramsammy said.
In response to this growing issue, the Health Ministry has been conducting regular fogging exercises across communities and has had Environmental Health Officers visiting businesses and homes to treat water.
Dispelling some public concern, Dr Ramsammy assured of fogging not being a harmful exercise.
“It’s not meant to harm anyone and that’s why we advise people that fogging is not done throughout the day. It’s done at a particular hour when the mosquito population is at its height and fogging will only affect the mosquitoes that are out,” Ramsammy said.
“The idea is to reduce the population of mosquitoes for that moment. And so, the population will remain a little lower over a few days, but then it’ll go back if we don’t follow that up with various other actions,” he added.
For one, he urged Guyanese to store water in closed containers as open containers of water are common breeding sites for mosquitoes.
COVID-19
Meanwhile, Dr Ramsammy reminded Guyanese that COVID-19 is still circulating simultaneously with dengue, and as such, the Ministry has been working to test for both viruses.
“COVID-19 has not disappeared. What we are finding a lot of times is that the people show up thinking it’s one, [and] it [ends up being] both,” Ramsammy said.
“We have had cases where people come to us for COVID-19 and then we test them, they also have dengue and that could be a dangerous combination. So, for that reason, I’m saying don’t assume, just check it out,” Dr Ramsammy added. (Pooja Rambaran)
