The Tribune

By RICARDO WELLS

Tribune Staff Reporter

rwells@tribunemedia.net

CHIEF Medical Officer Dr Glen Beneby said it is up to the public to prevent the spread of scabies and the influenza virus.

Speaking during the opening ceremony of the government’s Ebola training forum yesterday, Dr Beneby said that in addition to health officials “beefing up surveillance efforts”, the public is key in preventing the spread of both ailments.

He said: “As always the Department of Public Health’s surveillance team is given the responsibility to deal with public health issues throughout the commonwealth, not just in the schools. Whether it is at our borders or other institutions.

“These are two dynamic processes, so unless you keep your environment clean, wash your hands, wash clothes, and bedding and items along those lines, we will have outbreaks.

“We hope it doesn’t happen, but like everything else, if you don’t pay attention to your environment, you will be affected,” added Dr Beneby.

Last week, Education Director Lionel Sands confirmed that D W Davis and T A Thompson had to be temporarily closed for extermination to begin after some students tested positive for scabies.

Dr Beneby said health officials have sentinel centres in place to monitor infectious illnesses.

“So, when there is a change, they are in place to respond to it rapidly,” he said. “They receive reports and develop all necessary responses in a timely manner. In this case, they received reports from the schools and responded by going in and doing all the necessary testing and analysing for the treatment of this matter.”

He explained that the perceived scabies outbreak was nothing more than “exaggerated, public anxiety”.

“From the initial reports we took this seriously, although it has been made out to be a lot more than it was,” said Dr Beneby. “We know as a matter of fact that compared to previous years, there are a number of new cases of scabies in particular in primary schools, in the prison and in other areas where persons tend to come together as a group.”

“We are very proud of our public health nurses and our surveillance teams that have responded yet again to this perceived outbreak.”

In early January, Dr Beneby told The Tribune that the Ministry of Health had noticed a “slight increase” in the number of reported flu cases in children around the country.

Yesterday, he advocated for vaccinations.

“We want to be very positive when we say to the public that (a) vaccination is a very safe public initiative.

“It’s like a seatbelt to drivers, if you don’t wear your seatbelt you may not get in an accident, but if you do and you don’t have your seatbelt on the outcome will likely be worse than if you had your seatbelt on.

“The process of vaccination is similar. Unless there are medical reasons for not getting vaccinated we would wish for all of our populations, particularly those in schools, to get vaccinated because by doing so you protect yourself and you protect the public.”

He added: “We want to say to our mothers, our parents, the public at large ensure that the immunisation policies for going into schools are followed. That is the best way to prevent many of these issues.”