A patient who tested positive for the H1NI virus (swine flu) last month and was being treated at a private hospital before he flew overseas for treatment has died.
This was confirmed by Chief Medical Officer, Dr Shamdeo Persaud who told Stabroek News yesterday that the patient died on December 31 while receiving medical treatment in the United States where his relatives had transferred him for treatment.
Persaud said that work is being done at the hospital where he was treated locally to ensure workers are screened. Samples, he said were already taken from them and were sent for testing at the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA). The same was done for the relatives of the deceased who may have come in contact with him.
Minister of Public Health, Dr George Norton had recently told this newspaper that the patient returned to Guyana from China via the United States and Trinidad and Tobago and only fell ill after arriving in Guyana. It has not been established where he was infected.
Surveillance systems at the ports of entry to Guyana, especially Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA), Timehri and Ogle International Airport were upgraded to ensure all the necessary measures are taken and persons entering Guyana show no signs of the virus, Persaud stated.
According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in humans the symptoms of the ‘swine flu’ are similar to those of influenza and influenza-like illness in general. The symptoms include fever, cough, sore throat, watery eyes, body aches, shortness of breath, headache, weight loss, chills, sneezing, runny nose, dizziness, abdominal pain, lack of appetite and fatigue. The virus is also spread when infected people cough or sneeze, and other people breathe in the virus or touch something with the virus on it and then touch their own face.
The Trinidad Express reported on December 28 that Trinidad had seen four deaths and 41 reported cases of the swine flu last year.
Yesterday, Norton informed this newspaper that to date neither the family members of the deceased nor hospital staff who had treated him have shown any symptoms of the virus. What is more worrying presently though, he said is the Zika virus which is present in Brazil and has caused severe concerns there.
The Zika virus is a mosquito-borne disease which is transmitted by the same vector that carries the dengue and the chikungunya viruses.
