Govt doubling efforts to find mosquito breeding areas and fight the deadly disease

A cohort of officials recently trained in the identification of mosquito breeding sites, along with the arrival of spanking new fogging machines are the latest steps in an attempt to fight a troubling suspected outbreak of dengue.

Officials are awaiting the results from approximately 250 to 300 suspected cases that occurred over the last six months, according to the Minister of Health and Wellness Lieutenant Colonel Jeffrey Bostic.

On Monday, he explained to reporters that local health authorities are still working to complete a dengue action plan that included the development of much-needed testing facilities that were reserved for COVID-19 testing.

“I cannot give you anything definitive at this point in time because we are in the process of completing the action plan for dengue and what I can say to you is that we have completed one cycle of training for some additional personnel who are actually out in the field,” Minister Bostic replied, when asked for an update on the country’s current situation.

“Additionally, we have a number of suspected cases at the QEH and other medical facilities. We are in the process of doing the testing to confirm whether or not those persons actually had dengue, because regrettably, the same machines that are being utilized for COVID-19 PCR tests are the same ones that are required for the dengue testing. So we’ve had to create some space to get that process going,” he further explained.

More than a week ago, Minister Bostic signalled the Government’s intention to mount a response similar to the one launched to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic. It was later revealed that the suspected cases were taking a tremendous toll on the Pediatric Department of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital.

While he reiterated the gravity of the situation and the challenges associated with testing facilities, Bostic promised that other measures are being undertaken to provide “temporary relief”.

“We expect to have more foggers out. We are awaiting the arrival of some additional fogging machines, so we are moving now to having four trucks that will be fogging on a daily basis, but more importantly, we have more bodies on the ground trying to identify mosquito-breeding sites, because that is really the key. The fogging will give temporary relief, but we need to be able to take care of the breeding sites.” Bostic admitted.

“For the last several months…there have been perhaps between 250 to 300 suspected cases or reported [cases], but we don’t know for sure, and a lot of them were not hospitalized in any event, and tests have to be done for us to make the determination,” he explained
(kareemsmith@barbadostoday.bb)