Says Health Minister

MINISTER of Health, Dr Frank Anthony has revealed that the number of dengue cases recorded in Guyana has been on a steady decline over the last month.

Dr Anthony made this disclosure as he was being interviewed on the Dr Randy Persaud show earlier this week, where he noted that this year, the outbreak that was seen was observed in the Americas and not just in Guyana.

He added that while Guyana saw a rise in cases, one of the first things that the health ministry did was to have more diagnostic testing done across the country to better handle and care for persons that were testing positive.

At that time, he said, “Not everybody that tested positive would need attention because one of the things with dengue is if you had an old dengue infection with some of the testing methods it can show positive so that is something you have to differentiate; whether the test is showing an acute infection or one that is of a past infection.”

With this goal in mind, he stated that during the time of increased cases, they witnessed a surge in hospital visits, which had to be appropriately handled.

However, Dr Anthony, when asked about the current situation, stated that Guyana’s dengue curve is going down and has been decreasing for the past month.

The ministry had launched a robust and aggressive programme to keep the situation under control. Testing was expedited to confirm the presence of the four types of dengue fever in circulation, alongside the testing for stereotypes. Furthermore, the use of fogging as a vector control measure was also ramped up.