A PAHO consultant is almost certain that cholera will spread across the Caribbean, but he doesn’t expect an epidemic or deaths.
Dr James Dobbins, speaking at a Disaster Management Seminar for health providers at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre yesterday, said cholera could be brought to the Caribbean through visitors, but given the good health care systems in place, no large outbreaks would be expected.
He said the outbreaks would not be a large one, as in Haiti or the Dominican Republic. “Maybe 100 people may get infected. Of those only 20 would have any symptoms at all and of those only five will be hospitalized, but nobody will die,” he told media personnel.
“Given that only 20 per cent of the persons who are infected have symptoms, then most people can be travelling around with the bacteria. It takes up to five or six days for incubation, so you won’t pick them up at the airport . . . but they will come in and perhaps contaminate somebody else,” he stated. (CT)
Full story in today’s DAILY NATION.
