00:00Minister of Health Terence Dielsing outlines that news of China triggering a
00:04state of emergency amid a spread of the human matter pneumonia virus proved
00:09false. Let me give you the facts about the HMPV virus. The HMPV virus was first
00:17isolated in 2001. It is circulating around the world and in Trinidad and
00:25Tobago. So we have it here. Through CAFA we do have the capability to test for it.
00:33So far I have not heard of any local cases of HMPV. At this time no samples
00:40have been sent to CAFA to test for HMPV because according to the minister none
00:45have met the specifications. Asked what are the parameters for health officials
00:50to know which samples should be sent for that purpose, General Manager of
00:55Primary Care at the Northwest Regional Health Authority Dr. Lesley-Ann Roper
00:59says at this time the situation is one of monitoring. Well we're still
01:04monitoring this virus, this new virus. So we are working together with the
01:10epidemiologists and our doctors know that we are going to be looking keenly
01:15and we're going to be doing more testing because that's the only way to find out
01:19if it's here. But so far we have no evidence of that. Dyalting highlights a
01:23brief from CAFA indicating that there was a mixed pattern of respiratory
01:27activity in the Caribbean at the end of December 2024. Overall cases have
01:33slightly increased, though severe acute respiratory infection, called SARI, severe
01:40acute respiratory infection cases remain low. But CAFA references a rise in
01:47cases mainly due to influenza A. Dyalting notes that the more at-risk
01:52groups for influenza are almost the same for HMPV. There's a respiratory virus in
01:58the family with respiratory syncytial virus. It generally causes upper and
02:05lower respiratory disease in people of all ages, especially amongst children
02:12under five, older adults and those with weakened immune systems. As for the
02:18symptoms of HMPV. Symptoms include cough, fever, nasal congestion and shortness of
02:26breath which may progress to bronchitis or pneumonia, similar to other viruses
02:33that cause upper and lower respiratory infections. The estimated incubation
02:40period is three to six days but can extend to 14 days and the median
02:45duration of illness can vary depending upon severity but is similar to other
02:52viral respiratory infections. The country is in the flu season. Asked if the
02:58health care system is seeing any rise in respiratory illness requiring treatment
03:03with antibiotics compared to what is usually experienced around this time,
03:07Dr. Roper responds. So this time of year is usual to see a rise in cases so I have
03:15not seen anything exceptional. However there is expectation for a further
03:20increase over the carnival season. Alicia Boucher, TV6 News.
Comments