Guyana

Minister of Health Dr. Leslie Ramsammy announced at a press conference on Wednesday, May 28 that nine (9) cases of Dengue were Confirmed in Upper Takutu/Upper Essequibo in Region 9.  The patients were being closely monitored.  Since then three more cases have been Confirmed bringing the total in and around Lethem, close to the Brazil border, to 12 as of May.  There were 103 cases of Dengue countrywide at the end of April.  No Dengue Hemorrhagic Fever (DHF) cases have been reported.  The Dengue virus type implicated in this Dengue event is Dengue 2.    

Guyana’s Minister of Health   Dr. Leslie Ramsammy
(GINA Photo)

“Over the last four weeks the Ministry has noted the increase of reported fever cases from Region 9, especially Lethem, and investigation(s) revealed that these cases were not due to Malaria.  A test for Dengue Fever confirmed that some 12 cases were as a result of recent infection with the Dengue virus…,” the minister said. 

Minister Ramsammy was not alarmed by this development, just concerned, which is a reflection of the tolerance levels for Dengue in that country.  This in spite of the fact that suspicions abound that the Dengue virus may have jumped the Brazil border where tens of thousands of Dengue infections and scores of deaths have occurred in the wake of a massive outbreak, which is only now beginning to taper off. 

The Guyana Ministry has nonetheless launched an intensive countrywide surveillance campaign to ensure that fever patients are quickly identified, recorded and rapid-tested.  This action was mandated because of an increase in the number of fever cases that have been showing up in coastal areas, including Georgetown, and across the country.

Unfortunately, some private physicians are not equally concerned.  The Minister has, therefore expressed reservations that some private hospitals and clinics have not been diligent in the reporting of febrile cases.

Regardless, surveillance teams are investigating not only the Suspected Cases, but their familial and community contacts to ensure that all fever cases are caught on time. 

This kind of aggression against a disease that infected a record number of persons in the Americas in 2007 is not something that all Caribbean countries can boast of.  Guyana came away relatively unscathed then even though there were major Dengue outbreaks of the disease from Venezuela to Mexico and many places in between.

 

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