Even though no evidence of the deadly swine flu, which has killed more than 150 persons in Mexico, has been seen in Guyana the Ministry of Health has instituted a number of actions to prevent any local outbreak of the flu.

The World Health Organization has since classified the present spread of the flu as a stage 4 epidemic, meaning human–to-human transmission, and according to a statement from the ministry one of the actions taken is the maintaining of a stock of Tamiflu which has already been distributed to health care facilities.

According to the statement the ministry has also heightened its surveillance at ports of entry, including the international airports, seaports and at the borders.

“Through a number of actions, persons entering Guyana will be monitored for fever and flu,” the statement said. And the ports of entry surveillance will include the airlines and ships submitting Aircraft and Ship Health Declaration.

“We will rigidly implement this IHR (International Health Regulations) requirement,” the minister said.

There is also heightened health facilities surveillance with every health facility being instructed to report all fever cases and a special unit has been established to follow the cases.

The ministry said there is also a laboratory testing protocol in place while the Chief Medical Officer has been meeting with health care providers, public and private, to alert them and to give a case definition and how to categorize cases as suspicious.

The ministry also,  working with PAHO, is planning a meeting of technical officers from Venezuela, Suriname and Brazil to discuss surveillance procedures at Guyana’s borders.

The flu is said to be the first such flu outbreak in 40 years and raising the flu classification to stage 4 has indicated a significantly increased risk of a pandemic. And stage 6 would mean the swine flu is a pandemic.

The last such outbreak, a ‘Hong Kong’ flu pandemic in 1968, killed about 1 million people.