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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Monday that a person in Texas has tested positive for highly pathogenic avian influenza, otherwise known as H5N1 bird flu.

"This person had exposure to dairy cattle in Texas presumed to be infected with HPAI A(H5N1) viruses. The patient reported eye redness (consistent with conjunctivitis), as their only symptom, and is recovering," the CDC said in a statement. "The patient was told to isolate and is being treated with an antiviral drug for flu."

The CDC said this is the second case of a human testing positive for H5N1 in the United States, after a previous case was observed in Colorado in 2022.

"This infection does not change the H5N1 bird flu human health risk assessment for the U.S. general public, which CDC considers to be low," it added. "However, people with close or prolonged, unprotected exposures to infected birds or other animals (including livestock), or to environments contaminated by infected birds or other animals, are at greater risk of infection."

US TUBERCULOSIS CASES IN 2023 WERE AT HIGHEST LEVEL IN A DECADE, CDC SAYS

Last week, dairy cows in Texas and Kansas were reported to be infected with bird flu – and federal agriculture officials later confirmed infections in a Michigan dairy herd that had recently received cows from Texas.

This bird flu was first identified as a threat to people during a 1997 outbreak in Hong Kong, according to the Associated Press. More than 460 people have died in the past two decades from bird flu infections, the World Health Organization says.

PUERTO RICO HEALTH OFFICIALS DECLARE DENGUE FEVER A PUBLIC HEALTH EMERGENCY

Texas officials did not identify the newly infected person, nor release any details about what brought them in contact with the cows.

The CDC said it is "working with state health departments to continue to monitor workers who may have been in contact with infected or potentially infected birds/animals and test those people who develop symptoms." 

"Human illnesses with H5N1 bird flu have ranged from mild (e.g., eye infection, upper respiratory symptoms) to severe illness (e.g., pneumonia) that have resulted in death in other countries," the CDC also said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

The Unit will visit Field Road, Factory Avenue, Parkinson Field, Rock Avenue, Rock Close, Wildey Road, Wildey Garden, Terrace Road, East Terrace Avenues Nos 1 to 3, Newton Crescent, St Ann’s Road, and neighbouring districts on Tuesday, April 2.

The following day, Wednesday, April 3, Villa Road, Valerie Housing Area, Collymore Rock Main Road, McClean Gap, Brittons Cross Road, Mission Gap, Layne’s Road, Perkins Road, Seaman Road, Millyard Road, Knights Road, and Scotts Gap will be sprayed.

On Thursday, April 4, the team will go to Villa Road, Warner Road, Liverpool Road, Reece Road, London Road, Burkes Road, and surrounding communities.

The fogging exercise for the week will conclude on Friday, April 5, in Reece Road Nos 1 to 3, Flag Staff, Streats Road (both sides), Ifill Road (both sides), and Highgate Gardens.

Fogging takes place from 4:30 to 8:30 p.m. daily. Householders are reminded to open their windows and doors to allow the spray to enter. Children should not be allowed to play in the spray.

Members of the public are advised that the completion of scheduled fogging activities may be affected by events beyond the Unit’s control. In such circumstances, the Unit will return to communities affected in the soonest possible time.

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He said the implementation of the National Strategic Plan for NCD Control (2023-2030) reflects this urgency by providing a comprehensive framework consisting of eight priority areas, aimed at tackling the rising burden of NCDs.

“More specifically, the strategic plan emphasises the reduction of risk factors such as tobacco use, unhealthy consumption of alcohol, poor nutrition, and sedentary lifestyles; through educational initiatives and policy interventions targeting communities, schools, and workplaces,” he said as he addressed the National Nutrition Centre’s Nutrition Conference, held under the theme Good Nutrition: A Prescription for NCD Prevention and Control, on Wednesday, at the Radisson Aquatica Resort.

“The plan also highlights the importance of NCD self-management and improving healthcare-provider interactions, with a focus on empowering patients and caregivers. Additionally, childhood obesity prevention efforts are prioritised through educational campaigns and creating supportive environments, particularly within schools. This healthier environment is centred on promoting appropriate levels of physical activity, front-of-package warning labels, and restricting the marketing of unhealthy products to children.”

He added that it was imperative to involve persons living with NCDs in these efforts to ensure “inclusivity and responsiveness to their needs”.

(BGIS)

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As pieces of medical equipment from the Queen Elizabeth Hospital’s Shaw Centre for Pediatric Excellence (SCPE) were being donated to the Frederick ‘Freddie’ Miller Polyclinic, Glebe, St George on Thursday, SCPE Barbados Director Dr Clyde Cave said there needed to be a refocused approach to monitoring early health challenges in children.

Far too often, parents would only take their children to be accessed during specific times of their early life, particularly surrounding their primary school enrolment, or when preparing to set the 11-plus examination, he told reporters.

“I think we are missing an area of monitoring the development of our children, which can be done by a trained person whenever you see them, but in our immunisation schedule we see them in the first year and then the second year and then we don’t see them again until four years of age. So between two and three, there are things there that can be picked up on a screen,” Dr Cave said.

“For immunisations, we don’t see them again before 11-plus, and there are things that are going on there that straddle health and education, school health systems, and those kinds of areas which are, perhaps to some parents, nontraditional medical issues.”

Dr Cave added that while some physical and health issues in children might manifest early on and have an impact on their learning abilities, parents far too frequently avoid seeking an examination.

“The first place you think of taking your eight-year-old child who may have had a change in school performance, may not often be the polyclinic or the paediatrician, but oftentimes that is where we can start the assessment. It could be something physical like hearing or vision, it could be something that we are now detecting like dyslexia or attention deficit disorder.

“In the younger ones, we are seeing more children on the autism spectrum. We don’t want to wait until 11-Plus when that problem has become ingrained and so difficult that change gets harder. We want a spectrum of monitoring children who are well or have identified problems so that we can make every Barbadian child the best that they can be,” he said.

Deputy Chief Medical Officer Dr Arthur Phillips said early signs of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) and other health issues more commonly found in adults can often be detected in young children.

He said: “While it is true that most NCDs still present in older persons, there are things that we can detect in children that would allow us to intervene and make a difference. In particular issues around potentially detecting children who may have raised blood pressure. Very uncommon but possible. So if we do detect raised blood pressure in children, we can try to understand the causes and intervene early.

“That is one of the ways in which this donation may assist, and then of course our continued interest in childhood obesity. This equipment allows us to continue and strengthen our effort in terms of monitoring child development.”

Minister of Health Senator Dr Jerome Walcott, praised SCPE – the government’s partnership with Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) – for its donation of medical equipment and resources to primary healthcare institutions.

“There was a time where in primary healthcare in communities we were second to only Cuba in the region. In terms of our reach and the involvement of medical staff and nursing staff in the communities. We’ve recognised that we need to refurbish and probably expand some of these facilities to do greater outreach and provide greater services in the primary care setting,” he said.

“We need equipment, we need extra human resources and trained resources, and of course we need research. This project covers all of those.”

(SB)

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The medical official made the announcement to reporters following the donation of medical equipment from the Shaw Centre for Pediatric Excellence – a partnership between the government and Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) – to the Frederick ‘Freddie’ Miller Polyclinic at The Glebe, St George.

While acknowledging that salt intake is a crucial contributor to high blood pressure and other chronic diseases, he said current research on taxing salt would have little discernible effect.

“In terms of the salt tax, this is something that was raised as a potential consideration, and the Ministry of Health was asked to submit documentation in terms of our position and recommendations and we have done so. In short, our view is that there is limited evidence of the potential effectiveness of a salt tax in our current setting and that the approach to dealing with excessive consumption of salt needs to be holistic. Dealing with public awareness, dealing with availability, those are the sort of drivers that we would want to focus on in terms of reducing consumption in Barbados.

“We feel that a salt tax would not have a major role to play in dealing with salt consumption in Barbados at this time, and that’s what we have indicated,” the deputy CMO said.

He said the 20 per cent excise tax on sugary drinks, which has been attributed to a decline in the sales of sodas, was different from any possible salt tax, given the number of products that can easily be found to contain added sugar.

Dr Phillips said: “With sugar-sweetened beverages, you have a defined set of products that are relatively easy to identify and to tax in terms of their tariff codes for importation. Salt is co-consumed in products, it’s a very cheap item, and so it presents itself in a wide variety of areas, and the literature unfortunately around salt tax has not indicated that it is an easy intervention to design and implement and that it is effective as a measure for reducing salt consumption.”

He added that stakeholders were still looking into the possibility of using the revenue collected from the sugar tax, to help offset prices on healthier options.

“There has been some specific work done with the Sweetened Beverage Committee and with colleagues from UWI [University of the West Indies], looking at potential cross-subsidies, potentially using some of the revenue generated by the sugar-sweetened beverage tax to then further assist in making healthier items of food more affordable,” Dr Phillips said. (SB)  

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Amidst the controversy, the school’s board chairman Dr Donley Carrington appealed for parents, teachers, staff, and education officials to work together harmoniously to provide the best possible learning experience for students.

After a walkthrough at the Cane Garden, St Thomas school with officials including Chief Education Officer Dr Ramona Archer-Bradshaw and others, Democratic Labour Party spokeswoman on education Felicia Dujon claimed there were two reports on the latest tests, but only one was widely circulated. She said the circulated document had “a missing page” and demanded the full report be made public.

Many parents had also contacted the media with the same complaint about a missing page.

In response, Dr Archer-Bradshaw showed reporters the 10-page report she had from Ian Weekes of Environmental Comfort and Safety Solutions Limited, the company that conducted the tests. She denied any pages were missing from the report.

Dr Carrington told Barbados TODAY there were indeed two report documents from Weekes. But, he stressed the “missing page” allegation was misleading, clarifying it was a paragraph that was omitted, not an entire page.

“Neither the board nor the ministry would have tampered with or removed any information from the report,” Carrington said. He explained there was a longer and shorter version of the same report, both received as Portable Document Format files (PDFs) by the board which forwarded them as received.

The paragraph in question theorised about possible symptoms from high volatile organic compound (VOC) exposure for chemically sensitive individuals. Carrington said he believes Weekes may have removed it from the second version to avoid confusion since it did not relate to the findings.

VOCs are organic chemicals that can vaporise into the air and are found in many products including pesticides, paint, varnish, wax, and cleaning products. VOCs can also be found in refrigerants and fuel fumes.

Both reports’ key findings were the same – that based on all tests of each building, drainage system, and a nearby cave, “there was no venting of any sewer gases” at the school.

Barbados TODAY obtained a copy of the report. The disputed section reads: “These levels are applicable to normal individuals; they are not applicable to chemically sensitive individuals. Specific production operations may exceed these levels due to the presence of one or more compounds characteristic of a specific operation. In those cases, it is recommended that OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) or NIOSH (National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health) limits be used for those individual compounds and that they not be included in the total volatile organic value. Exposure effects – eye and respiratory irritation, headaches, drowsiness, nausea, general malaise, etc.”

However, Carrington said that what was important was that both reports had the same findings, which stated that based on all the tests done on each block and drainage system at Lester Vaughan, including a nearby cave system, “there was no venting of any of the sewer gases”.

The board chair explained that Weekes’ services were only acquired to verify that a previous environmental study was accurate.

Carrington said Weekes was hired to verify the results of a prior environmental study, after a plumbing company’s two tests – the first finding defects in the sewerage system that were then repaired, with a second successful smoke test showing the systems were properly sealed.

He noted this was the third environmental report in a short period, suggesting another may be needed to determine why students and staff have fallen ill since the latest two reports confirmed no sewer gas leaks on the compound.

The school has been closed for four weeks, with online classes. Carrington hopes fourth and fifth formers can return next week for extra lessons over the Easter break to prepare for exams.

During the walkthrough, principal Suzette Holder showed the sealed sewerage systems to officials. Dr Carl Ward, representing the Chief Medical Officer, said he was pleased with what he observed.

Meantime, the meeting that was scheduled to be held virtually on Thursday evening with parents was called off due to challenges associated with the online platform.

The meeting was to go through the findings of the environmental test and talk about the possibility of reopening the school next week.

The Zoom call only allowed 100 participants to log in and PTA president Sheena Headley said that it was only fair that all interested parents had the opportunity to participate in the session and air their concerns.

Weekes, who conducted the latest environmental test, also experienced some technical difficulties.

“Therefore, at the request of the PTA president, the meeting will be deferred to a day next week when all parents can be accommodated,” the Ministry of Education said in a press release. “At that time, Mr Weekes will be back on island and will be able to explain the report and address any concerns.”

It added that parents would be informed of the date and time for the rescheduled in-person meeting.

sheriabrathwaite@barbadostoday.bb

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Opposition Leader Aubrey Norton on Thursday accused the People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPPC) administration of failing to pay healthcare workers more but was preparing to hire Bangladeshis and other foreign healthcare workers at higher salaries, but Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo said they would be paid the same as Guyanese. “You cannot bring Bangladeshis, bring whoever ...

Santo Domingo.– The Office for the Reorganization of Transportation (Opret) has released the schedule for the Santo Domingo Metro during the Easter holiday period.

According to a press release from the institution, the Metro will operate on Holy Thursday from 6:00 AM until 10:30 PM. on Good Friday, the service will run from 6:00 AM to 10:00 PM. Similarly, on Holy Saturday and Easter Sunday, the Metro will operate from 6:00 AM to 10:00 PM. Normal service will resume on Monday, April 1.

Additionally, Opret noted that Line 1 of the Santo Domingo Cable Car has been temporarily suspended since March 23 for scheduled maintenance, with service set to resume on Monday, April 1.

To assist Cable Car users during this period, the Metropolitan Bus Services Office (OMSA) will provide buses at no extra cost. These buses will run from 6:00 AM to 10:30 PM on Holy Thursday and from 8:00 AM to 9:00 PM on Good Friday, Holy Saturday, and Easter Sunday.

Opret also reminded cyclists that they have the opportunity to travel with their bicycles in the integrated transport system on Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays, facilitating mobility for those who prefer cycling as their mode of transportation.

Independent Senator Christopher Maynard, a noted ear, nose and throat surgeon, told fellow lawmakers that the country was responsible for the state of healthcare and all must work to fix it. This repair job cannot be remedied by the government alone, the board of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital or the staff, he said.

A visit to the QEH Accident and Emergency Department on Saturday led him to recall the Bible verse, “Jesus wept”, he said in the debate on the Appropriation Bill for the new fiscal year that begins on Monday.

“There are some obligations that the government needs to meet. My visit to the A&E was after 8 p.m. but there was no place in the hospital to buy food at 8 p.m. The cafeteria closes at 3. We cannot have a 24-hour hospital and you can’t get food at night,” he said.

Of QEH staff, the surgeon-lawmaker said: “We have to demand that those who are to work, work and produce. Those who we pay large sums of money have to come to work. And we have to make some hard, harsh decisions on how to sanction those who don’t come to work and who don’t produce.”

Noting that Barbadians pay a three per cent health levy which has raised about $70 million annually for the hospital’s operations, he added: “It’s a nice insurance policy to the QEH and I think we can do far better than we are doing but somebody has to truly take responsible at an executive level and make sure it’s done.”

Senator Maynard said while the experience of COVID-19 meant that there were changes with working from home, this is not an option for healthcare workers who must show up in person.

“There are people who believe you can be a full-time healthcare worker from home, but the reality is that you can’t [be]. People need in-person interaction,” he said, adding that compassion has disappeared since the COVID-19 pandemic.

He said when the government, during the pandemic, made the correct decision to curtail certain services at the QEH and continued to pay the staff in full, it created a problem.

“It meant that those who continued to work had more time to themselves. They were not at the beach because you couldn’t go to the beach, but you were busy seeing patients. The pandemic is declared over, and you now have to ask those persons who had reassigned their time to realise that they do have another job and to come back to work and produce.”

He suggested that methods must be found to create the enthusiasm that is needed to work in a system that has gotten worse and is more difficult to work in.

The senator also pleaded for a system which guarantees food availability at the hospital over 24 hours: “It cannot be that you can expect the place with the largest number of government workers under one roof not to have access to food. When it happens that there is a disaster and you have to stay in the hospital, the problem still exists. So, you are expected to provide care while you starve.”

Whoever gets such a contract, he added, must be set a minimum level for the provision of meals in a facility that caters to people all day.

He called on the Minister of Health Senator Jerome Walcott, to fix the meals issue.

Senator Maynard also addressed the situation at the hospital outpatient clinics which he said has always been overcrowded. He recalled that when he returned from Jamaica 40 years ago, he had become accustomed to a certain level of functioning in Jamaica that was the same here but was surprised back then to observe two doctors seeing patients in one room with no privacy for the consultations which could clearly be overheard.

“Forty years on and the same thing is happening. It means that successive governments, over and over again, have done nothing to fix it,” he declared.

Senator Maynard said he hoped with the expansion of the QEH services across the road at the Elmore compound as outlined by the health minister, this situation would be changed.

But he said the short-term solution may be to use porta cabins from which to conduct some services and alleviate the overcrowding.

The healthcare professional said the system plagued by the exodus of doctors and nurses and low morale must be transformed into an environment where professionals see the benefits of staying, and he encouraged the health ministry to do everything to improve the lot of healthcare workers.

(SP)

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