Scores of people are visiting the Beterverwagting (BV) Health Centre on the East Coast Demerara with symptoms of chikungunya.
The health centre sees on an average 15 persons daily with symptoms of chikungunya, a viral disease transmitted by the aedes aegypti mosquito, said the centre’s Medic Carol Orna.
Speaking to Stabroek News yesterday, Orna said the centre has seen an increase in the number of persons visiting with clinical signs of the virus. She said they would treat the symptoms and if they persist beyond three days the health centre would refer that patient to the Georgetown Public Hospital.
“We treat the patients based on the symptoms they show. So if they come in with headaches and joint pains we give them medication for pain,” she said, noting that they were about to prepare a report to send to the Health Ministry on the number of suspected cases.
She said the daily figure was not only coming out of the BV population but also from six other villages— Chateau Margot, La Bonne Intention Housing Scheme, Le Ressouvenir, Success, Triumph and Mon Repos—which the health centre serves.
During this newspaper’s visit to the health centre, two patients with symptoms of the virus, were waiting to be seen by the medic. One of the women, Vonnetta Justice, said that on Monday afternoon a rash broke out on her hands and started spread across her body. When she woke up yesterday morning both her feet were swollen and she had trouble standing.
“All my knuckles, my two wrists and elbows start to hurt,” she said, writhing in pain on a bench in the centre. She said the pain was so severe it reminded her of giving birth.
“I can’t describe it but it’s worse than baby pain,” she added, noting that her husband had contracted the viral disease too and she was hoping that her 11-year-old son would not get it because the pain would be too much for him to bear.
“This pain really bad. It hurt a lot when I was putting on my jersey to come here,” she said.
Justice said even though the Ministry of Health was alerting people about the virus it still needed to do more work, especially preventative works. “They need to come in the communities and tell people about this thing. Not everyone would watch TV. People need to know what this thing is and what causes it and what we should do to prevent it and protect ourselves,” she said.
A few days ago, the Associated Press, released information that Guyana has registered more than 1,000 cases of chikungunya, with several clinics reporting about 60 new cases daily. Stabroek News was unable to contact Chief Medical Officer Dr Shamdeo Persaud for a comment on this.
However, the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) has recorded nearly 10,972 confirmed cases of chikungunya with 1,433 cases from 20 CARPHA member states and 9,539 cases from 11 other territories.
Chikungunya causes severe joint pains, muscle pains, sudden high fever, headaches and rash. The disease is much similar to Dengue Fever and usually surfaces between four to seven days after a bite from an infected mosquito. It lasts for three to 10 days.
Persons are asked to use insect repellents and wear long-sleeved shirts and long pants. They are also advised to sleep under mosquito nets and keep their surroundings clean so as to prevent the vector from breeding.
