A special team of medical doctors has been formed to deal with potential cases of pregnant women contracting the Zika virus in T&T.
So said Health Minister Dr Terrence Deyalsingh at a press briefing held at the Ministry of Health’s office in Port-of-Spain yesterday.
“I advised the Chief Medical Officer to develop a team of doctors, to develop local protocols to treat with any pregnant person who contracts Zika,” Deyalsingh said.
There has been widespread worry among pregnant women after reports surfaced that there was a link between the Zika virus and microcephaly—a medical condition where babies’ heads are abnormally small, but research is still being done to determine if there is a link.
The team is expected to be headed by Professor Terence Seemungal of the University of the West Indies. Chief of Staff of the Women’s Hospital, Dr Karen Sohan, is also expected to be part of the team.
The minister was speaking at his weekly media briefing at the Ministry of Health, Park Street, Port-of-Spain.
Deyalsingh said to date 19 schools and 13 public buildings have been sprayed to eliminate breeding grounds for the Aedes aegypti mosquito which transmits the virus.
To date there have been four confirmed cases of Zika in Trinidad while none has been found in Tobago.
The latest case was confirmed by the Health Ministry on Thursday.
The patient, a 30-year-old Tunapuna resident, was taken to the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex.
The ministry said she has not recently traveled, suggesting that the virus was contracted locally.
Deyalsingh yesterday again urged the need for people to take responsibility for their property by ensuring clean surroundings.
Deyalsingh is expected to oversee a mosquito eradication exercise in Tunapuna today.
Tunapuna spraying campaign today
Chairman of the Tunapuna/Piarco Regional Corporation Edwin Gooding said the organisation had set up a special Zika Health Committee with the aim of identifying and eliminating mosquito breeding grounds within the region.
According to a statement, the committee has also organised a programme of works, the Zika Project, aimed at eradicating the Aedes aegypti mosquito.
The corporation’s main focus is to reduce the source of the Zika virus.
The programme, the release said, has two groups of five going around the region using various methods to halt the breeding process of the Aedes aegypti mosquito, the same insect that transmits dengue fever and chikungunya.
It is expected that the teams would be visiting the various areas in the corporation to spray including Tumpuna Road, La Horquetta, Heights of Guanapo, Ponderosa Crescent, La Resource, Kester Drive, Orange Grove Road, Meadow Drive, Trincity and Country Road among others.
People infected with the Zika virus usually display symptoms of fever, rash, pain in the joints and conjunctivitis (red eye).
“Recently there is a case of the Zika virus in Tunapuna and officials of the corporation feel this is not the last to be heard of the virus,” the release said. Although the virus is not fatal, there is no vaccine or treatment against it.
More kidney donors needed
A medical director at the National Organ Transplant Unit is urging more people to come forward to donate kidneys.
Dr Lesley Ann Roberts said yesterday some of the people on dialysis may not require a kidney transplant but those who needed had to be placed on a list if they had no donor.
“The majority of people do not have donors,” Roberts said, yesterday at the media briefing at the Health Ministry.
She said there was a deceased donor programme in place in which blood work had to be done as part of the screening to ensure compatibility.
Twenty-four people have received organs from 13 contributors. The programme involves the Intensive Care Units of the San Fernando General Hospital, the Port-of-Spain General Hospital and the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex, Mt Hope.
On February 24, this year, the National Organ Transplant Unit performed its 150th kidney transplant. On the issue of smoking, Deyalsingh said he was alarmed that 20 per cent of people between the ages of 15 and 64 were smokers.