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  • 2 years ago
Trinidad and Tobago has recorded its first dengue-related death in several years.

Confirmation comes from the Minister of Health Terrence Deyalsingh.

Nicole M Romany has more.
Transcript
00:00The TV6 Health Watch is brought to you by Alive, giving you more minerals and vitamins
00:05than leading brands, distributed by H&G Enterprises Ltd.
00:10Unfortunately, we have recorded our first death, our first one in about 5 years, and
00:20condolences to that particular family.
00:22But we really want to urge the public to heed the messages we have been giving out since
00:28around March-April about mosquito eradication.
00:33The Minister reminds the public that dengue is carried by the Aedes aegypti mosquito.
00:39He says after you are bitten, there is an incubation period of 2-14 days.
00:45That's one of the problems with controlling dengue because people will travel and so on.
00:51It happened in South Trinidad, I can't give you more details than that obviously, to protect
00:56the privacy of the family, but again our condolences go out to them.
01:04What we are asking people to do, what we ask people to do every year, is to help us with
01:08source reduction in their homes, your gutterings, your flower pots, your drains, your vases,
01:15inside your houses.
01:18So anywhere where you have still clear stagnant water is a breeding place for mosquitoes.
01:25He notes that even a bottle cap with water can be a potential breeding site.
01:31The Minister shares that he himself has done checks at his own home.
01:35You know what was my main wonder was, I was horrified about in my own yard, a birdbath.
01:42So I moved it out.
01:44I moved it out.
01:46So all these common sense approaches can really help us.
01:49Also speaking with TV6 was Chief Public Health Inspector Dr Mark Dukkaran, who explains that
01:55once a dengue case is identified, the Ministry will act immediately to break the chain of
02:01transmission with ultra-low volume spraying before the workers go in to treat the homes.
02:06Dr Dukkaran further explains how dengue is transmitted.
02:11One mosquito can infect more than one person.
02:15Additionally to that, an uninfected mosquito, when they bite someone who has dengue,
02:23they now ingest that virus with the blood when they take in the blood.
02:28The virus replicates, as Minister would have said, for COVID.
02:32It operates like a photocopying machine.
02:36So the virus replicates in the mosquito.
02:39Dr Dukkaran says dealing with the spread of the virus must be a coordinated effort between
02:46the Public Health Department and the population.
02:49The Minister notes that people must follow the guidelines and play their role in eradicating the problem.
02:55He says while many ask for the Ministry to spray more often, too much spraying will allow
03:01the mosquito to develop a resistance, as no new chemicals have been developed to treat
03:06with the mosquito problem.
03:08I'm Nicole M Romany with tonight's Health Watch.
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