–Dr Ramsammy affirms

WITH the recent spike in cases of dengue fever in Guyana, the Ministry of Health has launched a robust and aggressive programme to keep the situation under control.

This was according to Adviser to the Minister of Health, Dr Leslie Ramsammy, who, in an interview with the Guyana Chronicle, said that there is also a spike in these cases worldwide.
Over the last few weeks, health authorities have seen an increased number of persons coming down with dengue fever— a mosquito-borne infection.

He said: “There is a spike in cases of dengue that is similar to the spikes in countries around the region such as Brazil, Venezuela and across the Caribbean.”
Dr Ramsammy told this newspaper that authorities here have been testing for dengue as there is the capacity to do so.
He said that there are rapid tests in the system and these types of tests are being conducted across all 10 regions.

“We have accelerated testing, so we’re testing more people now, whereas before we only tested people we suspect might have dengue, we’re now testing in general people who might have fever across the country,” Dr Ramsammy said.
Along with this accelerated testing regime, he said that the Health Ministry will soon begin testing for the serotypes so as to ascertain which of the four types of dengue fever may be circulating here.

In addition to this, he said that with increased cases, public health authorities, Regional Democratic Councils, municipalities and Neighbourhood Democratic Councils will have to expand their vector-control measures such as fogging.
While he said that in recent months, fogging has been taking place in Georgetown, he added that more frequent rounds of fogging must take place across the country.

Dr Ramsammy added that the Health Ministry has intensified its awareness programme, as advisories are being sent out regularly, and hotspots are being identified so that rapid-response teams can be sent, out among other things.
“So there is a robust and aggressive programme in place,” he said.
In the past week, it has been reported that over 300 cases of dengue fever were recorded, with a majority of the cases being recorded in Regions Two, Three, Four and Five.