Friday, March 29, 2024

Schools the focus in dengue alert

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THE mosquito population is flourishing in the searing heat wave and with dengue cases spiralling to almost 100 this year, the Ministry of Health wants to ensure that schools do not become breeding sites.Chief Medical Officer Dr Joy St John said that dengue fever was very much in the outbreak mode with 98 cases, 18 of which had been hospitalised.“One of the things that I need people to help us with is to eliminate the breeding sites for the vector. The Minister [of Education] made that call last week and I am making it again,” St John said yesterday while on tour of the QEH.She said she had liaised with the Ministry of Education and plans were afoot to train general workers in the schools.“We have done so with all of the primary schools but we are going to do it throughout all the schools, because we want to try to minimise breeding in schools because the likelihood of quick passage of the dengue is very high when the children are in school so we are trying to get that sorted out before school starts.“The mosquito doesn’t really care if you are a boy or girl, man or woman, it is going to bite you, so we have been having cases throughout the age cycle.” Dengue fever, also called breakbone fever or bonecrusher disease, is associated with headache, vomiting, muscle and joint aches, usually with intense pain at the back of the eyes, but according to St John, some people have respiratory issues as well.St John noted there were also three influenza viruses circulating as well.She has warned Barbadians not to use aspirin if they have dengue symptoms. “You can have gastro-intestinal symptoms, that is vomiting or nausea with dengue. If you are having this, be aware that it is probably dengue, do not take aspirin or any of its derivatives or any of the non-steroidals like Cataflam,” she said.St John said one could contract dengue haemorrhagic fever if a person had been infected with more than one strain of the virus.“You can only be infected with each virus once, but there are four types. If that happens, you should seek medical attention right away.“I really need Barbadians to help us keep this vector population under control. Because of the very warm temperatures, the mosquitoes over the years have become much hardier. They are loving the warmth and are breeding and maturing faster and we have quite a few numbers.”“We have to minimise the breeding of the vector. We haven’t completed our typing, but we do know that Types 1 and 2 are circulating in the Caribbean so it is very likely that we will have that as well.”

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