Zika cases still confined to GT, meetings set

| 22/09/2016 | 5 Comments

(CNS): Public health officials have said there are now 12 confirmed cases of locally acquired Zika virus in Cayman. Three more positive tests results were received this week for people with no relevant travel history, all of whom live in George Town. There will be a series of public meetings starting next week to address concerns, especially for pregnant women. Since the last update, five new test results showed three positive cases and a fourth which required further investigation. The fifth patient was a pregnant woman whose test, fortunately given the concerns about the potential impact on unborn babies, was negative.

“The total number of locally transmitted laboratory confirmed cases of the Zika virus reached twelve, as of 19 September,” public health officials stated, adding that diagnosed cases in Cayman, including those who contracted the virus overseas, has now reached 19 people.

All of the patients who have confirmed results are from George Town and none of them are related. Officials have not said where in the capital the latest three patients live but at a recent press briefing, health officials refused to divulge the specific areas of George Town where people lived as they said the possibility of transmission was everywhere.

Another eight patients are suspected as having the virus and blood samples have been sent to the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA).

Residents will be able to meet with public health representatives and the director of the Mosquito Research and Control Unit over the coming weeks across Grand Cayman.

The first meeting takes place at George Town, Town Hall on Tuesday, 27 September, followed by a meeting at the Bodden Town Civic Centre on Tuesday, 4 October, Sir John A. Cumber Primary School Hall, West Bay on Thursday, 6 October then East End Civic Centre on Tuesday, 18 October and finally, North Side Civic Centre on Tuesday, 25 October.  All meetings will be from 5.30-7:00pm, with the exception of the George Town meeting, which will be from 6:00-7.30pm.

The meetings will be attended by a panel including Acting Medical officer of Health Dr Samuel Williams-Rodriguez, Ministry of Health Chief Officer Jennifer Ahearn, obstetricians Dr Gillian Belfonte and Dr Gilberta Alexander, internal medicine specialist Dr Iheonunekwu Nelson, and nurse midwife Beverley Samuels, as well as MRCU Director Dr Bill Petrie.

More local information is available at www.hsa.ky, regional information at the CARPHA website and globally at the World Health Organization.

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Comments (5)

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  1. Anonymous says:

    There is a confirmed local transmission case on Marina Drive close to Harbour House with Zika positive larvae found in the yard. Pre-Zika, that area was called Prospect. We should encourage anyone with Zika to let everyone know exactly where they live.

    • Anonymous says:

      Thank you,

      I believe you are performing a public health service by reporting this, and I urge others to follow your lead. Ultimately, this should be the responsibility of public health officials, and I guess they will finally step up when it is obvious that the public are no longer willing to pander to their waffle.

      Truthseeker

  2. Anonymous says:

    I live west bay and got zika… Lies and lies…

  3. Anonymous says:

    Son glad to hear meetings are set, we can all breathe a sigh of relief now because they must be planning to kill the virus with hot air from the meetings. Now they have realised it is out of control they will tell us where in GT it is. Perhaps if they had told us that before it could have been contained a little better. What a joke these people are.

    • Anonymous says:

      Our Aedes mosquitos exist in pockets all over and the infected human hosts are moving around and getting fed on again and again spreading it wherever they go or have gone. You just have to assume this daytime danger is real and start wearing bug spray. It would not be confined to one or two areas anymore.

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