Guyana on high alert after measles outbreak in Venezuela, Brazil

Measles outbreaks in Venezuela, Brazil and recently the United States of America have resulted in the continuation of stringent measures in Guyana, which were implemented some two years ago to prevent an epidemic.

Acting Maternal Child Health (MCH) Officer Dr Oneka Scott told Guyana Times on Saturday that as long as there are active cases in areas close to Guyana’s border, prevention and vaccination should be taken seriously.
“Last vaccination week and the year before, the Ministry has been saying that our threat is real. As long as there is an outbreak of any vaccine-preventable disease in a neighbouring country, we have to step up our immunization plan and that is what we have been doing for the past two years,” Scott stated.
In 2015, there was an outbreak in Venezuela. Between June 2017 and October 2018, some 7500 suspected cases of measles were reported in Venezuela. With thousands of Venezuelan refugees flocking the Cooperative Republic in 2017, the World Health Organisation (WHO) had declared an emergency response for Guyana, following Venezuela’s crises and a subsequent spread of this re-emerging disease to Brazil.

Since then, Guyana has sought to have its military, medical and police personnel and persons residing in border communities vaccinated to maintain a clean slate of zero cases.
“The outbreak continues in Brazil, in the state of Roraima, and Bolivar in Venezuela. Roraima state is very close to Boa Vista and Bom Fin in the Lethem Border. Because you have active cases of measles and because we have high traffic with both borders, at any point in time, we can have a patient that comes over from Brazil or Venezuela. If the Ministry is aware of the threat, the traffic from not only Venezuela but Brazil, we will do all efforts like we have been doing through the National Measles Response Plan,” the MCH said.
In the USA, the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention have recently reported an increase in cases amounting to over 970. With cases continuing in New York for some eight months, it was feared that the country can lose its measles elimination status. Scott indicated that the summer period will see increased visits to Guyana as she urged persons to get their vaccines at the health centres.
“Guyana has had stringent measures since the outbreak. As long as the US has active cases, it is summer and there will be lots of traffic between New York and Guyana. Everybody should make sure that [they are vaccinated] because the US border patrol and public health system have some extremely strict regulations.”
As part of the campaign, vaccines are available for children and adults. There has been collaboration with the Brazilian counterpart to keep the disease at bay.
“The campaign has been ongoing for two years. We have vaccines for children as well as adults. Since 2015, there has been an outbreak of measles in Venezuela. The reason Guyana stepped up this campaign in the bordering areas over the past two years is because of that outbreak. We’ve had collaborative vaccination efforts from Brazil to keep the threats to Guyana at a minimum and to keep Guyana measles free,” Dr Scott related.
Measles is an infectious viral disease, causing fever and rash. The virus lives in the mucus of the nose and throat of an infected person. When someone with measles coughs, sneezes or talks, infected droplets spray into the air and when other people inhale them, contraction is inevitable.
Earlier this month, the Public Health Ministry had issued a statement which informed that they have drafted “an emergency plan outlining different components of the blueprint including risk communication, immunisation coverage, cold storage and International Health Regulations (IHR)”.