Public Health Officials Reinforce Anti-Cholera Measures

Public Health Officials Reinforce Anti-Cholera Measures
Santo Domingo, 10/26/2010

The Minister of Public Health announced the need to maintain a strict and constant vigilance along the whole length of the border with neighboring Haiti to prevent the entrance of the cholera that has already claimed the lives of 135 Haitians.

“everything is under control and has been reinforced with medical personnel, medication and hospitals along the border, all of which are equipped to respond to any eventuality that might present itself,” …

Health Minister Doctor Bautista Rojas Gómez made the announcement about the cholera outbreak after reporting that “everything is under control and has been reinforced with medical personnel, medication and hospitals along the border, all of which are equipped to respond to any eventuality that might present itself,” according to a press release from the Ministry’s Press Office.

Dr. Rojas Gómez said cholera was transmitted by the contamination of water and food and rarely by contact with people infected with or ill from the disease, unless one does not have the basic hygiene necessary to treat the serious intestinal symptoms of the infection which are usually characterized by extreme diarrhea, vomiting and dehydration that can cause a circulatory collapse in a patient within 24 hours.

Rojas Gómez was speaking in Dajabón, where he was coordinating the preventative actions. He was accompanied by the deputy minister of Collective Health, Dr. José Rodríguez Aybar and the directors of Epidemiology, Environmental Health, Emergencies and Disasters, Doctors Raquel Pimentel, Luis Féliz Roa and Juan Rodríguez, respectively, among other health officials.

The Minister recommended that Haitian and Dominican citizens who live in the provinces of Monte Cristy, Dajabón, Independencia, Elías Piña and Pedernales, undergo a series of hygiene measures to avoid contracting the disease.

Some of the recommended measures include taking care when handling food, thoroughly washing hands, purifying water, cleaning and disinfecting the home.

Finally, he exhorted people in this area to abide by the recommendations of the health authorities and to immediately report to the closest health center in the event of displaying any symptoms of the disease.

Rojas Gómez said personnel at the health centers will be constantly monitoring the situation along the border in an effort to avoid the entrance of and contact with cholera or any other such illness.

Likewise, he stressed the importance of purifying all water before drinking it as well as using bleach to disinfect the water being used to wash the floors, walls and cleaning utensils, washcloths, bathtubs, showers and toilets. He explained that bleach has the capacity to destroy all types of germs and microbes.