Health Ministry: Increase In Chicken Pox Reports

April 8, 2015

The Ministry of Health, Seniors and Environment today [Apr 8] advised that there has been an increase in reports of Chicken pox recently; saying that “there has been one case of chicken pox reported per week for the past few weeks – more cases than last year overall.”

The full statement from the Ministry is below:

The Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit [ESU] of the Ministry of Health, Seniors and Environment today advised that there has been an increase in reports of Chicken pox in the past week.

Specifically, there has been one case of chicken pox reported per week for the past few weeks – more cases than last year [2014] overall.

Identifying a community disease outbreak requires collaboration of each member of the community with the public health sector.  Early identification of outbreaks relies on reporting of diseases or syndromes to health care professionals who report occurrences to the ESU.

Chicken pox is a notifiable disease and as such should be reported by healthcare professionals to the ESU. Between 13 and 48 cases have been reported annually over the past 5 years. To date, health care providers have reported 9 cases of chicken pox to the ESU [4 in January and 5 over the last 5 weeks].

A document entitled, “Guidance on infection control in schools and other childcare settings” has been provided to all public schools and is available online at health.gov.bm. These guidelines detail how long children and staff should be excluded from work/school due to illness, general guidance on infection control, and information regarding recommended vaccinations. Contact information for various sections of the Department of Health is also provided in this document.

It is also important to note that Chicken pox is a vaccine-preventable disease and we encourage parents to be aware of their children’s vaccination status as well as their own.

The Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit has also received reports of clusters of gastrointestinal illness in the community. All clusters of illness are also reportable to the Unit, including diarrhoea and/or vomiting.  Reports from the hospital and from private physician offices inform the ESU of the possibility of a disease outbreak in the community.

Disease surveillance and outbreak detection depends on consistent and timely reporting by health care providers to ensure that appropriate disease control measures are implemented.  The ESU appreciates the regular communication with community health partners as we all strive to prevent and to quickly contain disease outbreaks in the community.

A person can become ill with gastrointestinal illness such as diarrhea and vomiting by consuming contaminated food or water, directly from an ill person or contact with infected surfaces.

You can help to prevent transmission of infections by following these general precautions:

  •  Washing your hands thoroughly with soap and water or hand sanitizer after using the toilet, changing diapers, or disposing of animal feces
  • Washing your hands thoroughly with soap and water or hand sanitizer before eating or food preparation, and after handling raw meat.
  • Washing fruits and vegetables thoroughly.
  • Cooking and storing food appropriately. Keep hot food hot [at 140 degrees F or above], and cold food refrigerated (at 40 degrees F or below.) Protect food from insects.
  • Using bottled water when traveling in countries where the water supply might be unsafe. In Bermuda, the Department of Health recommends that tank water be disinfected before it is used for drinking or food preparation – common methods include boiling, ultraviolet light, and chlorination.

You can help to prevent transmission if you or a family member is ill by:

  • Flushing or discarding any vomitus and/or stool in the toilet and making sure that the surrounding area is kept clean.
  • Immediately removing and washing clothing or linens that may be contaminated.
  • Disinfecting contaminated surfaces, e.g.: kitchen counters, bathroom surfaces.

Most importantly, persons who have symptoms of vomiting and diarrhea should not attend work and should not handle food for others while ill. Professional food handlers should consult their physician or the Department of Health before returning to work. Food that may have been contaminated by an ill person should be disposed of properly.

Children with diarrhea and or vomiting should not attend school or day care center until 48 hours from the last episode of diarrhea or vomiting

All members of the community have a role in preventing infectious disease outbreaks and in assisting the ESU to quickly identify an outbreak so that control measures can be put into place.

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Comments (4)

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  1. sswhite says:

    “First, we’ve got population. The world today has 6.8 billion people. That’s headed up to about nine billion. Now, if we do a really great job on new vaccines, health care, reproductive health services, we could lower that by, perhaps, 10 or 15 percent” – Bill Gates.

    Food for thought.

    If they do a good job vaccinating you with poison, keeping you pumped up on pharmaceuticals, and placing abortion clinics right around every bend they (the “elite”) can REDUCE the world population. How Sinister.

    • Anbu says:

      Conspiracy theorist much? Everything has its place including abortion. Not everyone will agree but everyones entitled to an opinion. Im not a flu vaccine person myself but as far as measels , chicken pox and the like are concerned they r helpful.

    • tinfoil hat much? says:

      You and people like you are the reason for the increase in things like measles and chicken pox.

  2. beddah lea dose chickins alone….this all came from chickin pluckers….you see chickin pluckin no too gooid for mans like a data….but…eeeeeef!…eeef you no can help eet whasha you handz!