Health Officials in Region Six are monitoring seven new dengue cases that were detected over the last seven days on the Upper Corentyne the Exercise Tradewinds Medical Outreach.
The Exercise Tradewinds Medical Outreach which began last Saturday is a collaboration between the Ministry of Health and the Guyana Defence Force who set up at Filed Hospital in the Skeldon Estate Compound to provide a wide range of medical services to the residents of Corriverton and surrounding communities.
The News Desk understands that 67 persons utilized the Voluntary Counseling and Testing (VCT) service at the outreach from which seven of those persons result came back positive for dengue and were provided with the relevant medications and treatment.
Speaking with the media, Second Lieutenant, Erica Forde, who is the medical commander at the field hospital, disclosed that one of the aims of the health aspect of Exercise Tradewinds 2023, is to show that the field hospital can be set up and provide the relevant health care to the community.
She said, overall the outreach was a success as over the last six days, 86 persons would have access the dental service, 61 audiology, 284 pharmacy, 69 labs, 77 ultrasound, 349 triage, 92 vaccination, 23 physiotherapy, and 135 accessed the eye clinic.
ABOUT DENGUE
According to the World Health Organization, Dengue (break-bone fever) is a viral infection that spreads from mosquitoes to people. It is more common in tropical and subtropical climates. Most people who get dengue won’t have symptoms. But for those that do, the most common symptoms are high fever, headache, body aches, nausea and rash. Most will also get better in 1–2 weeks. Some people develop severe dengue and need care in a hospital.
In severe cases, dengue can be fatal. You can lower your risk of dengue by avoiding mosquito bites especially during the day. Dengue is treated with pain medicine as there is no specific treatment currently.
Most people with dengue have mild or no symptoms and will get better in 1–2 weeks. Rarely, dengue can be severe and lead to death. If symptoms occur, they usually begin 4–10 days after infection and last for 2–7 days. Symptoms may include:
High fever (40°C/104°F)
Severe headache
Pain behind the eyes
Muscle and joint pains
Nausea
Vomiting
Swollen glands
Rash.
