Eight killed by flooding and disease in Guyana

Thursday, February 3, 2005

GEORGETOWN, Guyana (AFP): A leptospirosis outbreak in a flood-stricken part of Guyana has killed at least three people and affected a dozen others, authorities said Wednesday, bringing to eight the overall death toll since the flood began three weeks ago.

Madan Rambarran, director of medical services at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corp., said doctors have confirmed an outbreak of the disease. Authorities were planning to dispense medicine to an estimated 150,000 people said to be at risk for the disease, he noted.

Meanwhile, Bernadette Theodore-Gandhi, director of the local Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO)/World Health Organisation (WHO) office, said a disease surveillance system has detected cases of jaundice, a symptom of leptospirosis.

"We're responding to the outbreak and, therefore, we're working with the Ministry of Health in terms of establishing prophylaxis for as many people as possible who are at risk for leptospirosis," she told AFP.

PAHO/WHO figures, however, show that one person has died of the disease and 11 others have been hospitalized, she said.

Five other people drowned in separate incidents last month.

Leptospirosis is contracted when animals or humans come into contact with contaminated rat urine or feces.

The densely populated Atlantic coast was flooded last month for the first time in 100 years after unusually heavy rains, affecting the homes and businesses of at least 300,000 people in the South American nation.

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