The Ministry of Health, Wellness and the Environment is encouraging the public to take all the necessary precautions during this carnival season to protect themselves from infectious diseases including dengue, influenza, COVID-19 and leptospirosis.
The ministry said that SVG has recorded 74 confirmed cases of influenza, 13 confirmed cases of dengue fever, 102 cases of COVID-19 virus and 13 confirmed cases of leptospirosis.
Influenza (flu) and COVID-19 are highly contagious viral infections of the respiratory tract that can cause severe illness with life-threatening complications.
“Typically affecting people of all ages, these diseases can spread when an infected person coughs and or sneezes. Some symptoms are high fever (38°C or more), dry cough, sore throat, body aches and fatigue. Other symptoms include chills, aches behind the eyes, loss of appetite, vomiting and diarrhea.
Dengue is mosquito borne illness that is caused by the bite of an infected mosquito.
Persons are encouraged to seek care early from their health care provider if they are experiencing fever accompanied with nausea, vomiting, rash or aches and pains (eye pain, typically behind the eyes, muscle, joint, or bone pain).
Leptospirosis is a bacterial disease, spread through contaminated fluids from rodents such as rats and mongooses, that affects humans and animals.
Symptoms associated with leptospirosis include, high fever, headache, chills, muscle aches, vomiting, jaundice (yellow skin and eyes), red eyes, abdominal pain, diarrhea and rash. Some infected persons, however, may have no symptoms at all.
“The Ministry wishes to advise anyone experiencing any of these signs and symptoms to seek medical attention from your district health care team or their private healthcare provider,” the ministry said in a statement.
“Persons are encouraged to lead healthy lives and to take all of the proven personal and community precautionary measures such as hand washing, wearing a face mask, maintaining physical distancing, keeping your surroundings clean and reducing mosquito breeding sites to reduce the spreading or contracting of these and other diseases.”
Dengue can be reduced if the birds killed some years ago by DDT are reintroduced on the island. Much should and could be done to increase the bat population. Folks can setup small housing to allow bats to reproduce and grow. Then there are other birds that feed on mosquito during evening hours. Home owners can be encourage and given these birds to breed in their back yards. They will also get rid of other insects that affect plants and vegetables.
The ministry of health can and should get involved in the issues mention above. CARICOM can seek help from other countries to train workers from the Ministry of Health to handle these issues. It’s very difficult to keep folks apart in such small spaces on the island.
n these birds to breed in their back yards. They will also get rid of other insects that affect plants and vegetables.