JONIQUE GAYNOR, Staff Reporter
THE RECENT OUTBREAK of leptospirosis has been keeping officials at the Ministry of Health extremely busy. Almost a month after the first reported case, the threat of the disease is still as real as ever. Several parishes have been reporting new cases and the ministry is bracing for more.
Since October, there have been 203 suspected cases of the disease and this figure represents an increase from last year's suspected figure of 45. Most of these reports have come from the southern health region. Forty-five of the reported cases have been in Clarendon, 36 in Manchester and 17 in St. Elizabeth. There is also an increase in the number of cases being reported from St. Catherine, St. Mary and St. James. Ten persons are said to have died from the disease.
In response to the increasing threat, there has been a new thrust of public education campaigns and the various parish councils and disaster committees have been meeting incessantly to come up with effective ways of dealing with the outbreak.
In Clarendon, various programmes are being designed and implemented with a view to educating the public and preventing further spread of the disease. Mayor of May Pen and chairman of the disaster committee, Milton Brown, in a statement to the Jamaica Information Service, said that the programmes being implemented would focus on public education, food storage and handling, assurance of water quality, clean-up and garbage collection. He further said, "We thought that public education was a primary element of our efforts and we should concentrate significantly on that. The National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA) will be assisting us with getting the clean-up done. We recognise that the farming area is an area where there seems to be significant happenings as it relates to the outbreak of the disease." In this vein, he said the council would be working with the Rural Agricultural Development Authority to ensure that farmers are aware of the situation.
CARRIERS OF THE DISEASE
Leptospirosis is an infectious disease that is most commonly transmitted through eating or drinking food or water that has been contaminated with the urine of infected animals.Wading or diving into infested flood waters is also another way of contracting the disease. Dogs, rats, pigs, cows and goats are among the most common carriers of the disease. As such, farmers, factory workers, field workers and garbage collectors are some of the persons most at risk of contracting this disease. Householders should however, be vigilant and cautious as anyone who tends to these animals is at risk.
The disease is more common during the rainy season and in times of flooding.
The flooding that usually results from heavy rainfall, as seen recently, forces the rats to leave their normal habitats and migrate to unusual areas. Unfortunately, these unusual places may include homes and kitchens.
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