Westmoreland ramps up hantavirus checks as region watches outbreak risk

MONTEGO BAY, Jamaica—Officials in Westmoreland say they are keeping a close watch for hantavirus as worries grow across parts of the region, though the island still has no laboratory-confirmed cases of the illness.

Medical Officer of Health for the parish, Dr Marcia Graham, gave that update on Thursday while speaking at the monthly sitting of the Westmoreland Municipal Corporation in Savanna-la-Mar.

According to Graham, screening at Jamaica’s points of arrival has been stepped up to reduce the chance that travellers could bring the virus into the country. Where someone is thought to have been exposed, health teams follow them through the illness’s incubation window, which can last anywhere from one to eight weeks. People who actually develop the infection would typically remain in isolation for a minimum of six weeks.

She stressed, however, that at present there are neither suspected nor confirmed hantavirus cases being tracked anywhere in Jamaica.

Graham also asked residents not to pass along unverified health alerts on the internet. She pointed to bogus notices that use the Ministry of Health and Wellness branding and said the public should only act on guidance from trusted channels such as the Ministry itself, the World Health Organization, or the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Beyond hantavirus, she repeated familiar public-health advice: cut down mosquito breeding sites and keep rodent numbers in check across neighbourhoods.

Graham flagged another local worry—children in the parish still turning up at hospital after swallowing or touching toxic products at home. “We’re still seeing too many children admitted to the hospital with accidental poisoning,” she said, and pressed parents and guardians to lock away cleaning agents and other harmful materials where youngsters cannot reach them.