MENINGOCOCCAL
DISEASE IS TREATABLE, AKBAR TELLS STUDENTS, PUBLIC
Meningococcal disease is treatable as long as it is detected early. Minister for Health Rosy Akbar said it was very important to present oneself at hospitals when they feel any signs or symptoms of the deadly disease. Speaking at Navesau Adventist High School, in Wainibuka, Tailevu, yesterday Ms Akbar said: “Treatment is available.”
She said the doses of the vaccine were present at the school on Saturday.
“There was no delay in the vaccines, doses were here on Saturday, but we couldn’t give the dose because the students weren’t here.
It was not that the vaccines were not here,” she said.
Yesterday over 50 per cent of the students were vaccinated with the ACYW vaccine to protect them from four strains of Meningococcal disease.
“The whole idea here is for people to understand that this disease is treatable as long as it’s detected early,” she said.
“Our priorities for vaccinations are those students who are infected.”
From February to March, six cases of Meningococcal were reported, two were confirmed cases.
“The students have been treated and discharged, one is still admitted to the Lautoka Hospital,” she said.
Teams from the Ministry of Health and other stakeholders have been in the school for the past three weeks monitoring the situation on a daily basis.
“The team being present here and monitoring and creating awareness has helped us contain the situation,” Ms Akbar said.
She will be visiting other schools to create more awareness.
“We have been going around checking our health facilities, we are trying to preserve the facilities,” she said.
“With this flooding we are anticipating other water-borne diseases and leptospirosis is also on our radar.
“We just like to advise the public to be aware of the consequences of the current environment condition, because it’s going to take some time for us to return to normal. “We do sympathise with losses the families have gone through.
“The only thing we can do is create awareness.”
Ms Akbar advises those who live in affected areas to boil drinking water and not to eat anything that is damaged by the floods.