Chairman of Region Six David Armogan last week confirmed that there is an outbreak of dengue fever in Region Six with over 100 cases recorded as of last Thursday.
Dengue is a viral infection which is transmitted to humans through a bite from an infected mosquito. Most commonly the Aedes aegypti mosquito.
Armogan who was speaking at the Regional Democratic Council’s statutory meeting on Thursday relayed that there were 107 cases reported thus far in the region. According to him, “In the last twenty-four hours, we have 24 cases which is not good enough at all.”
As such, Armogan stressed that the “spraying” has been expanded within the communities of Region Six to ensure that “we can kill these mosquitoes that are spreading this dengue fever around.”
Armogan warned that dengue is a dangerous fever that can sometimes result in haemorrhaging which can become fatal. “So we got to be careful, persons can get tested very quickly”.
According to Armogan, the tests can be done at the hospitals within the region noting that “it has spread right across the region… Almost all the villages.”
Last month, Dr Leslie Ramsammy, former Health Minister, and current advisor to the Minister of Health, had stated that the ministry is aware of a spike in dengue cases and efforts were being made to curb the infections as quickly as possible.
He advised, “Firstly we needed public awareness, keeping your surroundings clean since mosquitoes breed in open water and ensuring that all open water sources are covered will help”
In an interview with Stabroek News, Ramsammy had said that the government as an authority needs to also do certain things, “The ministry needs to be a little bit more aggressive in bringing public awareness and sending out more advisories.”
When asked what the government plans to do to curb the spike, he responded, “From the government’s side we are doing things like vector control, Georgetown was completely fogged.”
He added that to double up on their efforts “we will give the chemicals to the different municipalities to do the fogging exercises.”
The former minister advised persons who feel unwell to assume that they may have been infected and to get tested as soon as possible. “Most people would just take Tylenol and leave it at that, but rapid-testing kits are available – go get tested.”
The rapid testing will also be used by the ministry to ascertain which areas have the most dengue cases. There are four types of dengue and Guyana is mostly affected by Types 1 and 2.
Check with your local health care provider for further information if you fear you may be infected.
