Publication: Daily Nation
Paper Section And Page: 48
Paper Date: Mon, Jan 4, 2002
Byline: Janelle Walters
Over 100 suspected cases of dengue fever have been recorded for January. That's
what Senior Medical Officer Dr. Ronald Knight told the Daily Nation yesterday.
Up to November last year, 785 suspected cases
of dengue were recorded, compared to 655 cases for 2000 an increase of 20 per
cent. Furthermore, 40 per cent of that figure (224 suspected cases) came within
six weeks alone, indicating a "reverse" in a developing downward
trend.
When asked whether last month's statistics were indicative of a levelling off or
increase of cases, Knight said he would have to stack up the
statistics for the beginning of last year, to the ones now coming in. In terms
of the fight against dengue, the Senior Medical Officer spoke of
two important studies to be done.
For one, the Ministry of Health, the Pan
American Health Organisation (PAHO) and the Barbados Community College (BCC)
will be carrying out research on two fronts. PAHO and the ministry, with BCC
having a stake in the research, will be trying to find out about the mosquito
population in the country. A year-long social mobilisation study will also be
conducted to gauge how people translate knowledge about dengue into action. A
study into the mosquito population is being conducted through the Six Men's
Community Public Health Project, where researchers will try to
determine the level of infestation of mosquitoes, as well as their resilience to
pesticides. Knight explained, however, that this was only one of three
communities which would be involved in such studies.
"We are going to have to find two other
areas which are similar to Six Men's. The areas will have to be similar in terms
of mosquito population,
risks for breeding and environmental conditions," he said, adding that
officials were in the process of choosing these two areas.
The Senior Medical Officer said testing for
mosquitoes' resilience to pesticides, which is another aspect of the
study, was done by the Caribbean
Epidemiological Centre (CAREC) in Trinidad.
"But what we will be doing now is developing that capability to do the testing ourselves," he said.
Knight said the last time they sent samples to
CAREC, the mosquito resilience to malathion, which is used for fogging, had
proven to be still
effective. In relation to the social mobilisation study, he said the knowledge
base about dengue was definitely there, but the challenge now would be to get
people to act on what they already knew.
"We will be looking at what intervention we can make in getting the community to protect itself from greater risk," he said.
Knight added that the study would seek to find out people's environmental conditions, and what they were doing to improve them.