Dengue outbreak ongoing, St James Health Department warns
Published:Monday | January 15, 2024 | 12:05 AMChristopher Thomas/Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
Although St James’ Aedes index for measuring the parish’s spread of dengue fever has lessened significantly, the parish’s health department is reminding the public that the disease is still a major health risk for which precautions must be taken.
Dr Tanique Bailey-Small, St James’ medical officer of health, gave the reminder while addressing last Thursday’s monthly meeting of the St James Municipal Corporation (StJMC) where it was disclosed that the parish’s Aedes index for December was seven per cent, down from 11 per cent in November.
“We are still in our dengue outbreak, and when we look at the data from the World Health Organization, over the last roughly 20 years, the number of cases of dengue worldwide has risen from approximately 500,000 to 5.2 million worldwide. A huge contributor is climate change, and so what I want to translate to say to us is that we really have to ensure that we decrease the risk of transmission for dengue,” said Bailey-Small.
“We know that vector control activities are important, so while we do our part from the Ministry of Health, we really do need the community to do their part in terms of decreasing the mosquito-breeding sites, conducting search-and-destroy activities, and seeking medical attention,” Bailey-Small added. “Breaking the transmission is what is key for us. We realise we do have to pay attention, and we do hope that the numbers will continue to decrease for 2024.”
STEADY INCREASE
St James has had a history of shifting Aedes index numbers, which are used to determine the local mosquito population in each parish over a given period. Prior to November’s 11 per cent recording, the index saw a steady increase from nine per cent last July to 15 per cent in September, although the St James Health Department is seeking to bring the index down to five per cent or less per month.
The report for December indicated that 79 communities across St James were visited and checked for mosquito-breeding sites, and 23 were fogged. Additionally, 63,000 containers were checked as potential mosquito-breeding sites across various premises, and 2,700 of these were confirmed as breeding sites.
In the meantime, St James’ public health inspector Sherika Lewis noted that the health department’s temporary task worker programme, which has been instrumental in the fight against dengue spread, is slated to end as of January 19.
“The temporary task worker programme comes to an end next week Friday, January 19, and we are just hoping that it will continue. We have seen tremendous gains from these persons being on the field. We have 90 persons now as temporary workers, and we are hoping that the Ministry of Health will bless us again with these persons continuing on the programme,” said Lewis.
“The dengue outbreak is still active, but commendations again to St James, as we have seen reductions in the notifications that were coming in, in terms of dengue fever. The team is doing a good work, the residents are receptive, and we are hoping that continued collaboration will take place and we will see the end of the outbreak in short order,” Lewis added.