Health Services Director says it’s similar to regular flu

Many countries in the region and the US have had cases of the flu for a while and it was only a matter of time until the virus hit home. This evening, News Five’s Jose Sanchez sat down with Doctor Michael Pitts, Director of Health Services for the Ministry of Health about the concern coming from the casinos and other parts of the Free Zone.

Doctor Michael Pitts, Director of Health Services
“Over the last three weeks the Ministry of Health has been conducting its surveillance activity at the Free Zone area and we had identified a cluster of suspected cases from which we sent samples to CAREC and we have now began getting back reports. I believe out of the first eleven suspect cases that we sent, we got back five positive for H1N1. there’s two outstanding, which means that while we have H1N1, there are also other illnesses that present flu-like symptoms that run. The important thing is that most of these cases were mild cases and we understand that all have been managed and treated and most at home recuperating or back at work as it were. Outstanding is that we still have some suspected case of concern. The epidemiologists have raised the alert with those and we are awaiting the results of those. When we tried to trend what is happening with those suspect cases, we found a link to Free Zone area and in particular to two of the casinos. Be that as it may, the numbers are very small numbers in terms of the total amount of people who moved through these different areas. In fact, over last ten days estimate, the casinos might have moved maybe close to twenty thousand people.”

Jose Sanchez
“You mentioned cases that are clustered. Are there any particular links to a specific casino?”

Dr. Michael Pitts
“Well, I believe that we have identified cases now from Princess and Golden Princess and there are very few cases. In fact, like you said, we have five positive tests and they are mixed with links to the casinos.”

“This virus, it’s like any other flu. They are highly labile so you virtually will have the virus being transmitted fairly quickly, especially in this heat now. That is one of the things that protect you. When you have the ambient temperature very high, the viruses tend not to live long on exposed surfaces and so we believe that the transmissions is mainly in terms of droplets, direct close contact. Remember we are saying that we move from the week in April where we were saying here is a disease which is likely to be very fatal to now a disease where we are seeing it’s acting just like the flu that we have every year.”

Jose Sanchez
“Have any samples been taken from any of the doctors at the K.H.M.H.?”

Dr. Michael Pitts
“Well, we do have a doctor that is being treated and I believe that individual had more severe symptoms but is recovering. But that person had some inter-current medical condition that would make it a little bit more difficult. What we are seeing really is that H1N1 is fitting the bill of mild flu-like symptoms even though it’s another disorder and the fatality rate is extremely low.”

Doctor Pitts said that the ministry initially estimated that within six to eight weeks that there would be a resurfacing of the flu in the region and these confirmed cases match their original projections.