DAYS after the first reported case of the H1N1 virus, commonly known as Swine Flu, has been detected in Guyana, Chief Medical Officer (CMO), Dr. Shamdeo Persaud, has pointed out that the Public Health Ministry is currently monitoring some of the patient’s close relatives and health care workers who had attended to him at a private hospital.The male patient had travelled from China through the United States and Trinidad and Tobago in returning home to Guyana. However, he had displayed no symptoms of the virus on the course of his journey, including on the flight. This means that he had not been a health risk to others travelling on the same flight or in his immediate environment.

Dr. Persaud has confirmed this hypothesis. “It would mean that the patient would have been unable to transmit the virus, since it is transmitted through a symptomatic person,” he said.

The virus can be transmitted only if an infected person coughs or sneezes, thus releasing the virus-infected particles into the air, Dr Persaud has said.

The patient’s test result returned positive from the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) in Trinidad and Tobago. He is currently undergoing treatment abroad.

The Public Health Ministry has since tightened its surveillance security system at the main ports of entry in the country, primarily at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA) and the Ogle International Airport.

Symptoms of the H1N1 virus include coughing, fever, sore throat, body aches and headaches. Trinidad and Tobago recently reported four H1N1-related deaths. The Public Health Ministry is advising citizens to abstain from travelling to countries where the H1N1 virus is present, unless it’s very necessary.