A gastroenteritis outbreak in the North West District (NWD) has claimed the life of a third child and as persons continue to turn up at the Port Kaituma Hospital for medical attention, the Health Ministry will be distributing water treatment tablets and putting measures in place for a rigid campaign to improve human waste disposal in the area.
The third casualty, a one-year-old child, died just after noon at the Port Kaituma Hospital on Thursday after a bout of severe vomiting and diarrhoea. The child, whose name this newspaper was unable to ascertain, hailed from Canal Bank and is the second child to have died from that community.
Stabroek News was unable to contact relatives of the child, but was told that thebody is at the mortuary awaiting a post-mortem examination.
Chief Medical Officer Dr Shamdeo Persaud, when approached yesterday, said he was unaware of the third death but knew that a team was in the area trying to deal with the situation. He had told Stabroek News earlier in the week that tests on samples of water taken at Sebai showed a high level of E. coli bacteria.
He said the team, which is headed by a doctor and includes a laboratory specialist, went into the area earlier in the day. Persaud said he had been unable to make contact with the team.
According to Persaud, because of the level of contamination in the area, the team needed to take in more water treatment tablets.
He said all of the samples that were taken last Thursday “came back with too numerous to count E. coli so that means then that the water is seriously contaminated. The river is very turbid, there is a lot of filth and we presume a lot of sewage also seeped into the river and the surrounding areas. Even some of the wells actually were found to be not of a good quality.”
Asked about a long-term solution, Persaud said, “Basically it is sanitation and hygiene. Those are the main measures that need to be put in place.” He said that the first step is to look at environmental sanitation. “We need to start working with the environmental officer in the area to try and improve on the disposal of human waste… especially the pit latrines and the other things which are built too close to waterways in many instances that can lead to this type of contamination,” he told Stabroek News.
Making reference to the children who died, Persaud said the ministry is yet to get the results of the post-mortem examinations but stated that samples were taken from the first one and health officials are working to identify the organism.
The environmental health officials based at Port Kaituma, he said, are working with persons in the community to improve the disposal of waste by having residents adhere to the standards set for pit latrines and septic tanks.
Persaud said that in some cases, it would require moving the facilities and in such instances there will be costs attached. Hence, he said, there would probably need to be a grace period.
Meanwhile, residents are being advised to boil all water to be used for eating, drinking, brushing teeth and washing vegetables.
E. coli (abbreviated form of Escherichia coli) are rod-shaped members of the Coliform group, which is almost exclusively of faecal origin, and their presence gives an effective confirmation of faecal contamination. Research has shown that the Coliform bacterial group is abundant in the faeces of warm-blooded animals and could also be found in aquatic environments, in soil and in vegetation. Coliforms are easily spread and their presence gives an indication that other pathogenic organisms of faecal origin may be present.
A resident of Port Kaituma told Stabroek News that at present two adults and three children are hospitalised. The woman, who did not want to have her name published, said that the diarrhoea is accompanied by fever and cramps.
The woman said her relative – a young baby boy – had the illness, but he received medical attention at the hospital and was sent home.
Stabroek News was told that those severely hit by the illness are immediately given saline.
Signs of the illness surfaced about two weeks ago. The first death was that of two-month-old Zashada Bumbury. She died on February 15. Seven-month-old Steve Adams of Canal Bank died on Monday.
