There is no measles outbreak in Barbados, says Chief Medical Officer The Most Honourable Dr Kenneth George.
However, he is concerned that not enough people are being immunised against the contagious disease.
“We are worried about measles because our levels of immunisation are not where they should be. There are two vaccines given, one at 12 months and one at 18 months. We would like both MMR1 and MMR2 to get up to a certain level. That would protect the population,” he said.
George added that if there was an outbreak, only a small number of individuals would likely be severely impacted, but the complications could be severe.
“If measles were introduced into Barbados, most people would have a favourable outcome, but the challenge is that you can’t predict who will go on to get bacterial pneumonia and meningoencephalitis. Those can lead to death, and I think that is the reason why a small number of people would have an issue.”
Highly contagious
He was speaking to the Saturday Sun on Thursday during a break at the Caribbean Public Health Agency’s (CARPHA) 69th Annual Health Research Conference at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre, Two Mile Hill, St Michael.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), measles is a highly contagious disease caused by a virus. It spreads easily when an infected person breathes, coughs or sneezes. It can cause severe disease, complications and even death.
Measles infects the respiratory tract and then spreads throughout the body. Symptoms include a high fever, cough, runny nose and a rash all over the body.
The disease was declared eliminated in the United States about 25 years ago. However, this year, there have been reports of outbreaks in states such as Texas, New Mexico and Oklahoma.
Meanwhile, as local and regional health authorities monitor the measles situation, George said they also continued to look out for other ailments such as gastroenteritis and respiratory diseases.
He said he was satisfied there is no gastro nor any significant rise in respiratory diseases, and dengue fever.
Executive director of CARPHA Dr Lisa Indar said they were keeping an eye on arboviral diseases across the region. These are infections caused by viruses spread to humans through the bites of arthropods like mosquitoes and ticks.
She, however, said in some territories there were reports of gastro and dengue, as well as sporadic reports of measles.
Indar stressed that they continue to support preventative measures such as hand-washing, mask-wearing where applicable, and vaccination. (TG)
