MANDEVILLE, Manchester — A senior medical officer here is urging residents of the parish to remain vigilant about the threat of leptospirosis even though Manchester is not experiencing an outbreak.

Medical officer of health Dr Nadine Williams told Tuesday’s sitting of the local board of health at the Manchester Municipal Corporation that the parish is not experiencing any more than the usual leptospirosis cases at this time.

Health Minister Dr Christopher Tufton announced last Friday that Jamaica was experiencing an outbreak of leptospirosis following flooding caused by Hurricane Melissa. There have been nine confirmed and 28 suspected cases of leptospirosis across the parishes of St Elizabeth, St Catherine, Hanover, Westmoreland, Trelawny, St Ann, St James, and St Mary and six suspected deaths between October 30 and November 20.

On Tuesday, Dr Williams said “We as a parish are not in an outbreak at this time. We have been telling persons in our health education sessions across the parish how to prevent themselves from getting leptospirosis. A lot of it comes down to avoiding contaminated water and food and, of course, preventing rodents from getting into the homes. Be aware that other animals can also pass urine if they are infected with the bacteria.”

She reiterated an appeal for people to desist from swimming or coming into contact with the groundwater at Content, near Williamsfield in Manchester.

“We have started oiling of the area, fogging in this area, and also carrying out health education and talks with the residents in the community to tell them that they should not go into the water,” she said.

She also said public health inspectors have been continuously monitoring food safety in the aftermath of Hurricane Melissa.

“…To ensure that people do not sell contaminated goods and meat that were compromised in terms of temperature, we continue to do our inspection of institutions to ensure that standards are maintained and we do our house-to-house checks,” she said.

Following Dr Williams’ presentation, Mayor of Mandeville Donovan Mitchell questioned whether there was effective monitoring of trucked water to ensure domestic water is transported in sterilised trucks.

“There are trucks that carry irrigation water and there are trucks that carry domestic water. With Hurricane Melissa I am of the opinion that some of these trucks that used to carry the irrigation water is carrying the domestic water, so one of the things we should do is to turn up at the [water] station to check the [truck operators’] papers to see if these are sterilised trucks,” he said.

Councillor Karl Smith (People’s National Party, Knockpatrick Division) agreed.

“In hard times, [when] people want a [truck] of water, they are going to switch. How can they now be sure that the water that is being consumed is safe? How do we monitor that?” he asked.

MITCHELL… one of things we should do is to turn up at the water station to check the truck operators’ papers to see if these are sterilised trucks

WILLIAMS… we have been telling people in our health education sessions across the parish how to prevent themselves from getting leptospirosis