angelo.jedidiah@guardian.co.tt
Minister of Health Terrence Deyalsingh is assuring Trinbagonians that there is no reason to worry yet about the emergence of a deadly fungus in the United States.
American media has been flooded with reports following the latest announcement from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention which labelled the Candida auris or C. auris fungus a national health concern.
According to the CDC, it can cause bloodstream infections, wound infections and ear infections. It has also been isolated from respiratory and urine specimens, but it is unclear if it causes infections in the lung or bladder.
The deadly fungus is said to be drug-resistant and causes severe illness in patients at long-term health facilities and people with weakened immune systems.
Asked for a comment on the issue outside the Red House in Port-of-Spain yesterday, Deyalsingh told Guardian Media that he is aware of the situation in the US but gave his assurance that the ministry’s team will be looking into it.
“We’ll have to have the CMO (Dr Roshan Parasram) look at it,” Deyalsingh assured before heading into the Red House for the Senate sitting.
Meanwhile, as citizens continue to raise concern over the re-emergence of the hand-foot-and-mouth disease, Caroni East MP Dr Rishad Seecharan said it remains a concern, especially for students writing the Secondary Entrance Assessment next week.
“Should Standard Five students get that virus, they would have to be in quarantine. So, they are at risk of missing their examination and possibly having to wait another year to write to get into secondary schools. So, it should be a concern. It is very transmissible,” Seecharan said.
When asked about whether there were mechanisms in place to deal with this, however, Deyalsingh told Guardian Media that there is nothing to worry about.