The Tribune

By RICARDO WELLS

Tribune Staff Reporter

rwells@tribunemedia.net

HEALTH officials in the country yesterday advised the public to limit potential mosquito breeding sites in an effort to thwart the Zika virus - a mosquito borne illness the World Health Organisation said has spread “explosively.”

The directive came as the Department of Environmental Health Services (DEHS) announced that its mosquito fogging efforts would not start until Monday.

There are no reported cases of the virus in The Bahamas.

“We need to clean up our country,” Health Minister Dr Perry Gomez said during a press conference yesterday.

“We have the ability to kill the vector, and without the vector you cannot get the disease. So let’s clean up our yards, get rid of all the bottles, cans and buckets, and turn them over so that we don’t store water in the yards.”

The WHO, in partnership with the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) yesterday held an emergency conference to discuss the spread of the Zika virus.

PAHO/WHO local representative Dr Gerry Eijkemans said the groups are operating with the view that the virus, if it continues to spread, would likely reach all countries and territories of the region where the Aedes aegypti mosquito is found.

Health officials advised the public to get rid of standing water in or around their homes and any container where mosquitoes can breed or make a habitat.

People should protect themselves from bites by using insect repellent; wearing clothes (preferably light-coloured) that cover as much of the body as possible and use physical barriers such as screens, closed doors and windows.

Pregnant women should be especially careful to avoid mosquito bites. Although the Zika virus typically causes only mild symptoms, such as fever and red eye, outbreaks in Brazil have coincided with a marked increase in microcephaly – a disorder that causes an unusually small head size in newborns. Women planning to travel to areas where Zika is circulating should consult a healthcare provider before travelling and upon return.

Pregnancy

Yesterday, Dr Eijkemans said the decision to defer pregnancy amidst the regional threat of the virus remains an individual decision that should be made between a woman, her partner and her healthcare provider.

In recent days, two Latin American countries - El Salvador and Colombia - recommended that women delay pregnancy due to the virus.

Colombia, a country which has reported at least 890 cases of microcephaly, proposed that women avoid getting pregnant for the next six to eight months; while in El Salvador, officials recommended a two year halt on pregnancy.

As of Thursday, the WHO had confirmed that the mosquito borne illness had spread to as many as 23 countries in the Americas resulting in nearly 5,000 cases of microcephaly in babies.

WHO scientists estimate that there could be three to four million Zika infections in the Americas over the next year.

Last Friday, the United States’ Centre for Disease Control asked pregnant women - at any stage of gestation - to postpone travel to destinations in Latin America and the Caribbean that have the virus.

Zika has been reported in Barbados, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Mexico, and the United States, among other countries.

There is no known vaccine for the virus.

The Department of Public Health has issued hotline numbers for persons wanting any additional information on the Zika virus: 502-4790/502-4776 (from 9am to 5pm) and 376-4705/376-3970 (after hours).