Timehri snackette worker placed in SARS ward
Just a formality says health official
By Samantha Alleyne
Stabroek News
May 27, 2003
A woman who works at a snackette close to the Timehri airport has been placed in a ward at the Georgetown Public Hospital designated for suspected Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) cases.
The woman had visited the hospital on Saturday with respiratory distress. A senior health official yesterday told Stabroek News that doctors are looking at the case "as a non-issue" but are going through the procedures more out of an abundance of caution.
The health official said that the woman is employed at a snackette near the Cheddi Jagan International Airport, Timehri and that the infection had been picked up from someone who had visited the snack shop.
According to the health official, an investigation had revealed that the woman had no travel history nor had she been in contact with anyone who had travelled to an infected area.
It was also learnt that the person who infected the woman and who has since recovered from the respiratory illness had not been in contact with any person who might have been infected.
The official acknowledged that persons might be concerned that the woman might have come into contact with someone who might have been in the country for about two days and had since left.
However, he pointed out that the airline employees and persons working at the airport would have also been affected by this individual if he was carrying an infection.
Further, he suggested that if it had been a genuine case of SARS the country where the person had flown to would have already contacted Guyanese officials having reviewed the passenger's travel history.
He said while from all indications the woman did not have the disease, health officials were going through the normal procedures which included taking samples and sending them abroad for evaluation. He noted that foreign health officials would visit the country to inquire how they were dealing with the issue and as such they could not take any chances.
Asked about the persons with whom the woman lives and works, the health official said none of those persons had been sickened by what the woman was infected with.
The official also said that investigations revealed that the infection was restricted to the one snackette near to the airport.
The persons with whom the woman was in contact will be monitored by health officials.
"We are operating on the basis that you are not ill so you cannot spread anything," the official said.
And asked whether Guyana should be more concerned now that the World Health Organisation travel advisory to Canada had been re-issued, the official said no.
He said Guyana did not have to do anything other than what it had been doing already.
He disclosed that from Friday passengers have been asked to fill out health forms before leaving the airport so that officials could get an idea of their travel history. Travellers are advised to visit their physician should they develop any symptoms.
At the Georgetown hospital, a separate room has been allocated for persons who visit the institution with respiratory distress.
The official said that as soon as the person enters the Accident & Emergency Unit and reports their complaint to a nurse they are sent to the room.
"We would not allow them to sit among the other patients."
SARS is a flu-like disease which has killed more than six hundred persons worldwide, mainly in China, and has infected thousands of persons.
Symptoms include, high fever greater than 38 degrees and one or more respiratory symptoms including coughing, shortness of breath and difficulty breathing.
