Worldwide emphasis placed on Zika Virus pandemic

– Guyanese join rest of the world in training personnel

As the Zika virus continues to plague parts of the world with more and more persons falling victims, the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) has declared it a worldwide pandemic.
With this being announced and the recent confirmation by PAHO that the virus is indeed linked to Microcephaly – babies being born with abnormally smaller heads – more prominence has been placed on ensuring that this virus becomes dormant.
Subsequent to the reports of the thousands of cases being recorded the world over, PAHO had taken on the initiative of having persons from the various countries undergo training in detecting the virus and testing samples.
Being one of the main laboratories for testing of the suspected blood samples, the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) in Trinidad has been selected to facilitate these training sessions.
This was according to Public Health Minister, Dr George Norton, who stated that because of the newly rolled out imitative, it is affecting the time when Guyana’s representatives are slated to return home.
With reported cases in Guyana on the rise, two medical practitioners were sent to the laboratory in Trinidad to undergo training on how to detect and test samples for the presence of the virus.
This was prior to the decision by PAHO to include the rest of the world in the training, which has caused an extension to the staying time of the Guyanese.
Norton said that Guyana’s representatives have joined 60 others from varying countries but the Ministry is unsure of when the training would end.
The decision to have these persons sent for training had come as Guyana had recorded over 90 suspected cases of the virus, with below five being tested positive.
Minister Norton had informed in a recent interview that Guyana is at a disadvantage of detecting the virus since there were no medical personnel with requisite knowledge to test suspected persons.
However, he had confirmed that Guyana is in possession of the equipment to test for the virus. With the persons being trained, Guyana would be at an advantage of detecting the virus in persons in its early stage so that victims can be treated accordingly.
Meanwhile, the number of cases of the virus stands at six in Guyana with no recent reports of suspected cases.
Reports surfacing however indicated that additional persons had been tested positive for the virus at private institutions but these cases have not been reported to the Minister.
Commenting on this, Norton said that only the Ministry is authorised to send samples for testing and he is unaware of additional cases being confirmed.
Nonetheless, the Public Health Ministry along with other Ministries and the Vector Control Unit (VCU) has been maintaining its preventatives strategies throughout Guyana.
This includes regular fogging exercises, the dissemination of information to the general public and other effective measures.