Samples sent overseas to test for measles returned negative

–immigrants from Venezuela tested also, nothing “unusual” found – CMO

Since the year began, several countries within the Caribbean along with the US have reported hundreds of cases of measles and this, in turn, has caused authorities in Guyana to go on “high alert”.

Chief Medical Officer (CMO), Dr Shamdeo Persaud recently told Guyana Times that several samples obtained from persons suspected to have contracted measles in Guyana were already sent to the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) laboratory in Trinidad for confirmation.
However, he noted that there were no positive results from any of those samples.
“We have many samples. So far, we have all the samples coming back but all came back negative so far but it is an ongoing process. What we have been doing too is ensuring that we are in a state to ensure that we have full protective coverage of our population.”
According to the CMO, a surveillance system is currently in place to detect cases where persons may have developed rashes along with a fever since these are symptoms associated with measles.
“Those persons, once we see the rash with the fever, there is a procedure to collect samples of blood and have them checked. Also, we have set a sort of suggestive provision that people who are coming to visit this part [Guyana] to ensure that they are covered by the measles vaccine. But we have been doing well for Guyana so far – samples collected from the North West, Coastland areas, among the immigrants from Venezuela and so far, we have not detected anything unusual.”
Dr Persaud explained that in Guyana, immunisation against measles is almost 100 per cent in terms of coverage for all children under the age of one or at one-year-old and also among adults who may have missed their measles vaccines previously.
“Measles occurs in other parts of the world so there is always a possibility of someone coming into Guyana with this contagious disease but we have been doing well so far here. During the time from 2019, all negative so far for measles. However, we will still be continuing testing of samples as we stay alert.”
In the United States, between January 1 and May 31, 2019, there were 981 confirmed cases of measles in 26 States.
Meanwhile, in the Caribbean, the islands of Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, and St Lucia have all reported confirmed cases of imported measles.
The influx of Venezuelans into Guyana, coupled with free and open travel among Guyana, North and South America and the Caribbean further increases this country’s risk of importing measles.
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.
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.