News
Caribbean Public Health Agency puts region on alert for H7N9 virus
The destruction of poulty suspected of carrying H7N9 Bird Flu virus. PHOTO/Reuters
The Caribbean Public Health Agency has put regional countries on alert for the Avian Influenza H7N9 virus, also known as bird flu, that has killed at least 20 people in China.
The H7N9 strain of avian influenza has been observed to spread far more easily from birds to humans than the previous H5N1 strain and is probably the most lethal flu viruses ever identified.
“The regional health agency has specifically put all of us in the Caribbean on alert, and what we have been asked to do is to intensify our surveillance systems for acute respiratory infections and submit any viruses that we cannot subtype,” said Barbados Chief Medical Officer Joy St John.
“We have stepped it up to involve all doctors to ensure that if they see any unusual clinical pictures, any unusual displays of respiratory illness, that they should alert us and send in samples of the nasal pharyngeal swabs with a clear travel history and all of the other required information.
“We have surveillance for acute respiratory and severe acute respiratory illnesses that have been going on for years. In the Caribbean region, we are very strong on this. So every week, the Epidemiology Unit checks how many of these cases we’ve had and we have sentinel sites around the island mainly through the policlinics.”
Dr. St John said that the health authorities have been getting daily reports on the International Health Regulations (IHR) focal points.
“As part of the normal system we were already checking, and then we have had alerts from the World Health Organization (WHO) and backups from the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) directly on the IHR focal points, and then now we have the overlay of the Caribbean putting us on alert and asking us to do specific things that we were already doing.”
