Guyana’s risk of measles outbreak increases

…teams dispatched to help situation

Multi-disciplinary teams have been dispatched to the country’s bordering communities to assist in thwarting the likelihood of a measles outbreak in Guyana.
Measles is an infectious viral disease, causing fever and rash, typically in children. 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, where other people can inhale them
The influx of Venezuelans, coupled with free and open travel among Guyana, North and South America and the Caribbean further increases the country’s risk of importing measles, the Public Health Ministry said.
In light of the current situation, the Health Ministry is urging all Guyanese to comply with public health regulations and ensure that all family members receive two doses of the measles vaccine.
The teams, which were dispatched to border communities that are most at risk, comprise of officials from the Civil Defence Commission (CDC); Guyana Defence Force (GDF); the Ministry of Citizenship; the Ministry of Public Health (MOPH); the International Organisation on Migration (IOM); the Immigration Department of the Guyana Police Force (GPF); and the Pan American Health Organisation/World Health Organisation (PAHO/WHO).
Maternal and Child Health (MCH) Officer, Dr Oneka Scott said the team has drafted an emergency plan outlining different components of the blueprint including risk communication, immunisation coverage, cold storage and International Health Regulations (IHR) to ensure Guyana remains “measles free”.
The Ministry and PAHO/WHO have teamed up and over the last two years hiked vaccination coverage countrywide, targeting entire families and not limited to the country’s under-5 population in Regions One (Barima-Waini); Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni); Eight (Potaro-Siparuni) and Nine (Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo).
The spike in vaccination and surveillance activities targets the country’s border communities since these are at higher risks of importing the disease.
Some 98 countries reported an increase in cases of measles with 136,000 deaths according to WHO reports.
In the Region of the Americas, where Guyana is geographically located, measles outbreak started in Venezuela, west of Guyana’s border, in July 2015. The ongoing social and economic hardships in Caracas, pushed many nationals to seek refuge in neighbouring countries such as Guyana to restart their lives.
Between June 2017 and October 2018, some 7500 suspected cases of measles were reported in Venezuela. With thousands of Venezuelan refugees now flocking the Cooperative Republic, in 2017 the WHO declared an Emergency Response for Guyana following the outbreak of measles in Venezuela and a subsequent spread of this re-emerging disease to Brazil, another South American state.
In March this year, Ukraine, the Philippines and Brazil were listed as the 3 leading global measles hotspots.
In Ukraine, 11 people have died and more than 30,500 have been infected with the infectious ailment. In the Philippines, 315 people died, and there were 21,396 cases of measles reported during the first three months of 2019. In neighbouring Brazil, 12 people died and some 10,300 confirmed measles cases have been reported so far this year.
Governments around the world and international media earlier in the year warned of a potential worldwide measles outbreak, and a growing number of confirmed cases has been reported in Canada, England and the wider European continent.
In the USA, between January 1 and May 31, 2019, there were 981 confirmed cases of measles in 26 States.
In the Caribbean, the islands of Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, and St Lucia have all reported confirmed cases of imported measles.