THE Ministry of Tourism is collaborating closely with the Ministries of Public Health, Foreign Affairs, and Citizenship to monitor the spread of the Zika virus in neighbouring countries, including Brazil, Venezuela and Suriname.An aggressive public education programme has begun to inform the general public of the initiatives that have been launched, and to advise Guyanese of their responsibility to manage their environments to protect themselves from mosquito bites, the Ministry of Tourism has said.

According to that Ministry, up to the first week in February, the Public Health Ministry had treated only one single case of the Zika virus. This patient’s medical samples had earlier been sent for testing at the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA). The positive report was returned early in January, and all parties sprang into action. The Public Health Ministry stepped up its collaboration with the Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO) and an aggressive countrywide public education and prevention campaign commenced.

The Ministry has said that, since mid-January, the patient and her family members have been under medical supervision, even though all of her symptoms have disappeared.

“Since then, several batches of samples taken from Guyanese patients presenting with flu-like symptoms have been tested by CARPHA, and the results have all returned as NEGATIVE”, the Ministry has said.

The Ministry of Public Health is, in the meantime, carefully monitoring every hospital and health facility for reports of symptoms resembling ZIK-V, the release stated, adding that the Ministry of Tourism has extended its support base to include the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, UNICEF, the Brazilian Embassy in Guyana, and the Health Development Unit at the CARICOM Secretariat.

Other regional and international agencies have given assurances of support for Guyana’s fight to contain the Zika virus.
Additionally, the Tourism Ministry said, the Vector Control Unit has also ramped up its already intensive prevention programme in all of Guyana’s 10 administrative regions. “This ongoing exercise has been designed to eradicate Malaria, Dengue and Chikungunya, which are spread by the same species of Aedes Aegypti and Aedes Polynesiensis mosquitoes. Vector Control has stepped up distribution of treated mosquito nets, and (there will be) intense fogging in the city and its environs, in all towns and the hinterland regions, to kill adult mosquitoes and their larvae, and destroy their breeding sites.

“Vector Control officers have begun their on-the-ground citizen education programme, to ensure that everyone understands the responsibility they have to dispose of every piece of debris that could hold dew or water in and outside their homes”, the Ministry statement has said.
The Ministry of Citizenship has also joined in this fight to keep Guyana as free as possible from the Zika virus, the release stated, adding that all ports of entry are being fogged and closely monitored to identify and quarantine any person who was sick on the journey to Guyana, e.g. was vomiting, had a fever, red or swollen eyes, aching muscles or joints, diarrhea, and/or abdominal pain.

The Ministry of Tourism said it has mandated that all arriving aircraft crew report any illnesses experienced by any passenger en route to Guyana. In addition, Vector Control will shortly begin to fumigate every vehicle that could drive or be ferried across our borders with Suriname, Venezuela and Brazil.

Minister of Tourism, Catherine Hughes, has said that some persons had expressed concern about the geographic proximity of Guyana to Brazil, where the virus is reportedly spreading. She stated that there is credible information that the Zika virus is more prevalent in the eastern states of Brazil, which include Rio Grande do Norte, Paraíba, Pernambuco, and Bahia. Guyana is fortunately contiguous to northern Brazil, and our immigration authorities say that citizens of these eastern states hardly, if ever, come to Guyana. This minimizes the possibility of infected Brazilians transporting infected mosquitoes or their eggs to this country.

However, Minister Hughes has issued a call to all visitors currently in Guyana to use insect repellent liberally, to cover themselves well, and to generally avoid being bitten by mosquitoes during the daytime or at night.