Tonight, the swine flu fear is flooding Belize after the Pan American
Health Organization this afternoon raised its alert level from 4 to 5 meaning
that “a pandemic is imminent” and there is widespread human infection.
PAHO’s information says that the virus has caused sustained community
level outbreaks in two or more countries in one World Health Organization region.
The upgrade came after the United States reported its first death –a Mexican
toddler who had been hospitalized in Houston.
So we’re at stage 5, there is only one higher stage of alert,
that’s stage six and experts say that we’re likely to get there
soon enough. The implications in Belize are huge, everything has changed. First
off, there are four suspected cases, 1 from San Pedro, 2 from Belize City and
one from Orange Walk. As we understand it, all these have shown clinical signs
of swine flu and blood samples have been sent to CAREC, the Caribbean Epidemiology
Center.
Second, all public events have been cancelled or postponed by a directive
of the Ministry of Health. Those include the annual general meeting of the Holy
Redeemer Credit Union that was scheduled for tonight in Belize City, the Morgan
Heritage Musical Concert which was scheduled for tomorrow night in Belize City,
the University of Belize fundraising event – Spring Fling 2009, which
was scheduled for Belmopan, the National Agriculture and Trade Show this weekend
in Belmopan, the Cashew Fest, that was scheduled for this weekend in Crooked
Tree, and the Hermanos Ponce Circus which was setting up for this weekend in
Belize City.
The strategy behind all this is to limit the possibilities for any transmission
in Belize – and we stress there are only four suspected cases countrywide.
Still, it’s frightening – and this evening, Jacqueline Godwin spoke
with Dr. Paul Edwards the pandemic influenza focal point for the Ministry of
Health.
Dr. Paul Edwards, Epidemiologist
“It was only the day before that it was raised from a phase three
to a phase four whereby a phase is characterized by verified human to human
transmission of an animal or human animal influenza virus able to cause community
level outbreaks. That was yesterday however today it was moved from a phase four to a phase five and what that signifies is that phase five is characterized
by human to human spread of the virus into at least two countries in one World
Health Organization region and when we are talking about regions, we are talking
about places for example within the Americas or Europe or Africa etc. Phase
five states that while most countries will not be affected at this stage, the
declaration of a phase five is a strong signal that a pandemic is imminent and
the time to finalize the organization, communication, and implementation of
the planned mitigation measures is short.
What we have done, we have sent off today four samples of cases of interests
that we have been investigating. We are anticipating that tomorrow very late
in the evening we will start to have some of those results as well as another
action that we have taken is that the Director of Health Services Dr. Michael
Pitts is strongly recommending that we do not have those public gatherings and
especially when we talk about major public gatherings, for example the Agricultural
Fair, the Cashew Fest, the Morgan Heritage Concert, you talk about the circus,
and even to the extent of the PSE examination. However he has the authority
to recommend and it is the intention of the Director of Health Services to send
those recommendations to the Prime Minister for his decision.”
Jacqueline Godwin,
Let’s go back to the samples that have been sent abroad to confirm whether
or not they are cases of swine flu. The samples came from what districts?
Dr. Paul Edwards,
“The samples came from one in San Pedro, two in Belize City, and one
in Orange Walk. They are cases of interest because in some cases, they are individuals
who have presented signs or symptoms compatible with flu and there has been
one who has gone to Chetumal. But we know that there is no confirmed cases in
Chetumal but we know that it is in Mexico so that is when we talk about an area
or a country where there are confirmed cases. Luckily for us I think our Belizeans
have been concerned and there is a clear demonstration of that when we go and
do the shows with people calling in and having very good and intelligent questions
to ask. So I think the concern then is extremely high. I am happy to say I think
that there has been a lot of dissemination of information and the media has
played a very critical role in getting that information out.”
Jacqueline Godwin,
We did notice today that many taxi drivers, even in Belmopan, were wearing their
masks so indeed the concern is out there.
Dr. Paul Edwards,
“Of course and that is fine. There is nothing wrong with that. We
are not recommending the use of masks at this stage, except for when you talk
about the people from the airport, the healthcare workers, because they will
be the individuals who would be more exposed if there are cases out there, and
especially if there are individuals who come in with flu like symptoms.”
Jacqueline Godwin,
Parents tonight they are very concerned about their children in school. What
advice you have for school children and parents?
Dr. Paul Edwards,
“I want to say to any parent who has a child who shows any flu like
symptoms for that child to remain at home. Remain at home and take that child
to the nearest health facility to be examined by a healthcare provider and then
they will provide the best information there. At the same time, when we talk
about a school environment, if a teacher notices that a child is presenting
signs and symptoms, make immediate contact with the parents for that child to
go back home.”
And if that didn’t answer all your questions, a national hotline
has been opened. The number is 629-5604 and the person answering is Nurse Augustina
Eligio, who is stationed at Ministry of Health headquarters. The hotline is
only open from 8:00 am to 8:00 pm. And for more public information, there will
also be a press conference tomorrow morning at 9:00 am at the office of the
Central Health Region, Ministry of Health located at St. Joseph Street and Princess
Margaret Drive. And we’ll have more later on, as Keith Swift sampled opinion
on the street where there was a curious mixture of fatalism and genuine fear. |