No ‘red-eye’ outbreak in Southland

PUBLIC Relations Officer (PRO) of the South-West Regional Health Authority (SWRHA) Zenobia Nanan, has denied reports of  a major outbreak of the highly contagious eye disease, Conjunctivitis (red-eye), in South Trinidad.

This despite several calls to Newsday’s south-office within the past week, from persons who claimed there were major outbreaks of the disease in their respective communities. Nanan, in a telephone interview yesterday, assured that there was no official report of any outbreaks of the contagious disease, whose main characteristics were red, runny and sore eyes. “There is no outbreak of the red-eye disease here in the Southland. There is just the minority of individual cases (patients) who come into the clinic on a daily basis to receive treatment for red-eye,” Nanan said. Also denying any outbreak of the disease was a doctor attached to San Fernando General Hospital, who spoke to Newsday on the basis of anonymity.

“Although there are alot of people coming into the hospital’s clinic with the red-eye disease, there are no statistics to show that there is an actual major outbreak of the disease,” the doctor stated. A few weeks ago, several remand prisoners had to be taken to the San Fernando General Hospital after Court and Process Branch police based at the San Fernando Magistrates Court, fearing an outbreak at the courthouse, refused to let the prisoners enter courthouse because they were suffering from the red-eye disease.