| …Health Ministry targets 95% and above for 2012Guyana’s preparedness as it relates to addressing the rotavirus has been called into question with recent reports of an increase of the child-preying disease in at least one Caribbean territory.Reports emanating from St Kitts and Nevis just last week revealed that the Chief Medical Officer there had acknowledged an upsurge in a number of new cases of viral gastroenteritis related to rotavirus. Although causing some concern, the increased cases have not been regarded as alarming by the health official, who has since urged that parents ensure that their young children are administered the rotavirus vaccine at an early age.The introduction of RotaTeq last yearRotavirus gastroenteritis is a mild to severe disease characterised by vomiting,Soccer Jerseys From China, watery diarrhoea, and low-grade fever. Once a child is infected by the virus,Cheap Jerseys China, there is an incubation period of about two days before symptoms appear.Rotavirus is transmitted by the faecal-oral route, via contact with contaminated hands, surfaces and objects,Cheap NFL Jerseys, and possibly by the respiratory route. Health research has deduced that the faeces of an infected person can contain more than 10 trillion infectious particles per gram; fewer than 100 of these are required to transmit infection to another person.Because improved sanitation does not decrease the prevalence of rotaviral disease, the primary public health intervention is vaccination. Two vaccines against Rotavirus infection that are safe and effective in children are Rotarix by GlaxoSmithKline and RotaTeq by Merck. Both are taken orally and contain attenuated live virus.It was in recognition of the fact that some young children here in Guyana had died from diarrheal infections, brought on by the effects of rotavirus, that a decision was made by the Ministry of Health to introduce RotaTeq last year, according to Deputy Chief Nursing Officer, Debra Henry.The vaccine, she recounted, was introduced during the second quarter of last year catering to a target of some 14,627 children below eight months. Nurse Henry explained that the vaccine is intended to immunize children who are two months, four months and six months old, from the impact of the disease.Mild side effects that have been detected include diarrhoea characterized by three or more watery motions per day after taking the vaccine. No other adverse effects associated with the vaccine have been reported, Nurse Henry has assured.Due to the introduction of the vaccine during the second quarter, the Deputy Nursing Officer said that the Ministry of Health was only able to realize a 75 per cent national coverage last year. She asserted that 95 per cent coverage is usually the acceptable target, even as she noted that each Region is tasked with submitting reports of the immunization process on a quarterly basis.With the first quarter of this year already gone, Nurse Henry noted that it is expected that there would have already been a 25 per cent immunization achievement this year in the area of RotaTeq vaccination, an accomplishment she could not confirm, since reports from all Regions have not yet been submitted.In addition to the rotavirus vaccine, the Ministry of Health also avails to young children Oral Polio Vaccine and a pentavalant injection containing five vaccines – Tetanus,NFL Jerseys China, Pertusis, Diphtheria, Hepatitis B and Haemphilus B, all at no cost.According to the World Health Organisation, rotavirus is the most common cause of severe diarrhoeal diseases in infants and young children globally. It is estimated that the virus is responsible for approximately 527,000 deaths each year, with more than 85 per cent of these deaths occurring in low-income countries. Over two million are hospitalised each year with pronounced dehydration.Children under five years of age, especially those between six months and two years are most vulnerable to the disease.Based on local health statistics, there were some 45 diarrheal-related deaths recorded in 2008, of which 14 were caused by rotavirus. In 2007, there were 17 rotavirus-related deaths of a total of 48. The years 2006 and 2005 both saw an all-time high of 76 diarrheal related deaths and 50 such deaths were recorded in 2004.With the introduction of the rotavirus vaccine,Wholesale Jerseys NFL, it is the expectation of the Ministry of Health that the number of diarrheal cases in children will be significantly reduced,Wholesale Authentic Jerseys, an accomplishment Nurse Henry is confident the country is poised to realize. |
