Leptospirosis puts Guyana to the test:
This article was originally published in Clinica
Executive Summary
An outbreak of leptospirosis in flood-stricken Guyana has been met with a thorough response on the part of national and international surveillance services. Testing is being performed locally and at regional hospitals, backed up by secondary testing for other potential diseases, such as dengue and malaria. Further confirmatory testing is being performed by the Caribbean Epidemiology Centre (CAREC) in Trinidad. The scale of the concern surrounding the situation is that some 120,000 people are being treated prophylactically. An appeal has been launched for medical equipment and supplies, after most healthcare facilities were either destroyed or badly damaged (see Clinica No 1143, p 10).