By LETRE SWEETING

Tribune Staff Reporter

lsweeting@tribunemedia.net

ABOUT 40 to 80 percent of people show no symptoms of dengue, with most of the recently confirmed 100 cases confined to the inner city in New Providence, according to officials from the Ministry of Health and Wellness on Friday.

Earlier this week, health officials confirmed the country is experiencing an outbreak of dengue fever, with 100 cases confirmed to date.

The bulk of the cases are in New Providence, with the few family island cases being the result of those who had a history of travel from New Providence.

Luther Ferguson, assistant director of the Department of Environmental Health Services with responsibility for vector control, spoke to the location of some clusters of dengue cases, during a Zoom meeting Friday on Dengue and Vector Control.

“We've had a few clusters, but for the most part, the cases are confined to what we call the inner city,” he said. “You do have those outliers that are outside of that area, but those are few. So we really want to encourage the public, all persons, to basically inspect your yard.

“Now, let's be reminded that what we call a clean, well-kept, yard or premises could very well breed mosquitoes. Once you have water in a receptacle and that water is shaded from direct sunlight, you can have breeding,” Mr Ferguson said.

Dr Felicia Balfour Greenslade, who leads the ministry’s national communicable disease surveillance unit, and also attended the meeting gave more information on the subject of dengue symptoms.

“Usually if you're going to develop symptoms, and I say if because about 40 to 80 percent of persons may not actually develop symptoms, but if you do, they usually come on four to 10 days after the bite,” she said.

“There is a possibility for severe illness where you actually need to be in hospital. You would have problems with bleeding, notice bruising on the skin and bleeding of the gums, you feel worse.

“If you see you're developing the bruising or any type of bleeding after you've been put in the category of suspect or you've already gotten your results back as confirmed. You don't hesitate, you need to get medical assistance,” Dr Greenslade said.

Dr Greenslade also said that the ministry is only recommending persons be tested if they have symptoms.

“If you're not symptomatic, if you're not having a challenge, it really doesn't make sense for you to actually burden the system with doing a test for you.

“Once you come in, complaining of symptomology, complaining of the fever, the headache, the pain, the body ache the nausea, once you have that particular problem, and you come in and we see you as a potential suspect case, then you'll be tested. If you're not ill, there is no need for you to present to the healthcare system, requesting a test,” she said.

Dr Greenslade added that due to confidentiality, those with the disease are not normally required to disclose their status to their workplace, but it is recommended so that the business may take the necessary precautions.

“There is a thing that we call a degree of confidentiality and while I would say you're not able to give the illness to any of the individual, there's no human-to-human transmission, I think there's a degree of responsibility with the individual to at least let their employer know,” she said.

“The employer would need to take whatever precautions at the site at the worksite. Is there a possibility that you have breeding grounds there? Could other persons potentially have been exposed to mosquito bites within our work environments?

“So when it comes down to maintaining that environment, I don't think it would be remiss for the individual to let the employer know that," she said.

Dr Greenslade said: “When you see your health care provider, we usually will give you some time off with the advice to do your best to prevent mosquito bites for at least a week from the onset of your symptoms, because that's the time when you have virus circulating in your blood.

“If a mosquito bites you within that period. It will pick up the virus and potentially be able to give it to another person,” Dr Greenslade said.

The Ministry of Health and Wellness announced the reappearance of the dengue fever last month, with confirmed cases steadily increasing each week.

The disease is spread through contact with the Aedes aegypti mosquito, which is most active after dawn and before dusk and lives and breeds in standing water.

Therefore, health officials are cautioning people to be mindful of any still, clean water, not directly exposed to sunlight, as this is ideal breeding grounds for the Aedes aegypti mosquito. Amounts as small as a bottle cap of water can be a breeding ground.

Symptoms of the disease include headache, fever, nausea, vomiting, rash and aches and pains in certain areas of the body.

Those showing symptoms are asked to visit local government approved clinics for treatment. More information can be found on the Ministry of Health and Wellness’ Facebook page.