When Gulf View resident Ollen Storey found out yesterday that she and her daughter tested positive for the Zika virus she was shocked.
“Even when we did the test at the La Romaine Clinic I did not expect that we would test positive,” said 71-year-old Storey at her Gulf View Drive, La Romaine, home yesterday.
Storey and her daughter bring the total number of confirmed Zika cases in the country to three.
A 61-year-old Siparia woman was the first person in T&T to contract the virus.
During the interview with the Storey family yesterday afternoon, the Ministry of Health Insect Vector Control Division had a team in the area spraying for mosquitoes.
Storey’s husband Robin said his wife and daughter had to have contracted the mosquito-transmitted virus in the southern city. “We did not leave the borough,” said Robin.
Robin said when his wife and daughter began feeling unwell days apart they thought it was either the dengue or chikungunya virus. Their symptoms included skin rash, red eye, joint pains and weakness.
Storey, an employee at Petrotrin, said she began feeling unwell on February 20 and went to Petrotrin medical centre on February 24 where tests for dengue and chikungunya were done, but she tested negative. She said she was given antibiotics and referred to the La Romaine clinic to be tested for Zika.
Storey said both she and her daughter went to the La Romaine clinic on February 25 where they were tested for the Zika virus.
“Only this morning I was telling my daughter I wonder what it is we really had. I did not expect to test positive. And only about half an hour after the phone rang and they (clinic employee) said we tested positive.”
Storey said she was slowed down a bit by the weakness, but she went about her usual business.
San Fernando Mayor Kazim Hosein who visited the family said he immediately contacted the City Corporation’s public health department and together with the Ministry of Health they began spraying the area.
He said, from Monday the corporation will be putting up notices on open overgrown lots and if the owners fail to clean it in seven days, the corporation will fine them $1,000.
Ministry advises the following steps:
Dispose of all unwanted containers/items in the yard or environs which can collect water and become mosquito-breeding grounds.
Cover water containers such as barrels, drums or buckets with a mosquito-proof covering.
Ensure that your drains and gutters allow the free flow of
water.
Empty and scrub the sides of water vases or use dirt or sand instead to support flowers.
Cover extremities when out in the evenings.
Use bed nets that are tightly tucked under the mattress for protection at night.
Use insect repellant that contains deet as an active ingredient.