— White Water toshao flags false report in Guyana Times

“I KNOW nothing about that” was the response of White Water Village Toshao, Cleveland DeSouza, regarding reports in the Guyana Times that the North West District village is “battling to contain the reported cases” of measles.

On Saturday, the village leader said he found the news strange since he was not told anything about the disease being present within the population of the village which lies close to the Venezuelan border in the North West District.
He said health officials would have alerted him if the information was correct.
Measles is defined as an infectious viral disease causing fever and a red rash, typically occurring in childhood.

DeSouza said there are several cases of malaria in the village and he noted that this may have been as a result of the high incidence of persons infected with that disease and who may have been travelling across the border to White Water for treatment for the ailment. Health officials in the region have been monitoring the situation.
Minister within the Ministry of Public Health, Dr Karen Cummings several days ago dismissed reports of an outbreak of measles in Guyana.

She said that an outbreak in neighbouring Brazil and Venezuela has resulted in an increase in the level of vigilance in the regions closer to the border.
The Guyana Times report stated that Chairman of the Regional Democratic Council (RDC) of Region One, Brentnol Ashley, confirmed that he was aware of an outbreak of measles in the region.

According to the report, he became aware of the ongoing situation after regional officials informed him of same within the last two weeks.
Ashley explained that the Public Health Ministry has already deployed systems and personnel to deal with the situation.
Minister Cummings, however, refuted claims of an outbreak in Guyana, noting that there is indeed an outbreak in the neighbouring countries, but there has been no official report of the disease in Guyana.

“Our borders are a bit porous, so the Brazilians and Venezuelans have been coming across, but there have been no reported cases here,” she said, adding that if there was to be an outbreak, the Ministry of Public Health is equipped with the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine.
Aside from having the vaccines, they have advised health care professionals and health centres in Regions One and Nine to be vigilant and ensure that persons with the disease do not enter the country.

The minister admitted that the Venezuelans have been coming to Guyana because of the economic crisis in their country, but they have the situation under control.
She said the ministry has been working closely with the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) to monitor outbreaks around the world.