A series of preventive measures to address and monitor the outbreak of streptococcal infections in Cyprus were taken on Monday by the Ministry of Health, in collaboration with the Cyprus Paediatric Society.
In the morning, a meeting was held at the Ministry of Health to review the situation and take measures.
In statements after the meeting, Health Minister Michalis Hadjipandela said that our country has special relations with the UK and many of the infections we have in Cyprus coming from there are due to[/B] students and other Cypriots living in the UK travelling to Cyprus at Christmas.[/B]
With these facts in mind, the Ministry of Health, he said, decided to hold a meeting with the Pediatric Society and Ministry officials to review the situation in Cypriot hospitals at this time.
"The situation is manageable at the moment, fortunately we don't have any cases in our country but we will not be complacent, and we decided on the additional measures," he said.
The first measure, Mr. Hadjipandela is that updated guidelines will be prepared by the Ministry of Health, which will be sent to the Pediatric Society so that it in turn can send it to all its members. At the same time, these guidelineswill also be sent to the Pancyprian Medical Association and to the OAI so that they can be sent to personal physicians.
The second measure, Hajipandela continued, is the attempt to make the strep test, which detects the virus in time, immediately available from the Ministry of Health to pediatricians. He said a proposal will be forwarded to the Council of Ministers tomorrow to set a ceiling price of 5 euros for the administration of these tests.
[BR][BR]Also, the Minister said, there would be monitoring by the Department of Health's epidemiology team anda weekly review to decide on that basis whether further action needed to be taken.
Asked if there was specific guidance for travellers to the UK, Mr. Hadjipandela said they should be careful and if children have any symptoms they should speak to their personal doctor and paediatrician.
The President of the Pediatric Society Michael Anastasiades said in turn that the subject of the emergency meeting was to review the situation with the spike in cases of streptococcal infections, "this microbial infection which is well known in the pediatric community and which is indeed seen these last few weeks with an increased frequency in terms of the occurrence of cases."
Anastasiades said they fully agree with the measures announced by the Minister, while calling on the Society's members to further increase awareness and vigilance for early diagnosis and treatment. "Here we are talking about a microbial infection for which there is effective treatment, there are appropriate antibiotics which upon early diagnosis, can be treated and used to treat all such infections," he said.
Anastasiades said that fortunately cases of invasive disease, such as those that led to the deaths of some children in the UK and Spain, have not been recorded, but neither have hospitalizations from this strain. "Acting proactively, we are treating this phenomenon with due caution by informing both health professionals and the public, while urging them to remain calm as there is no reason at this time, of real concern," he said, noting that the increase in cases is and will be dealt with with the weapons at our disposal.
Asked if there are any indications as to where this spike is due to, Mr. Anastasiades said there are several theories surrounding the outbreak and the scientific community has not come to a conclusion as to where it is due as no other new strain has been identified that is causing this invasive disease.
Most likely, he said, the conditions in the post-COVID era that led to the outbreak of all other viral infections have also led to this outbreak. In this case, he continued, we have a microbial infection which is being treated with the use of the appropriate drugs available to medicine. We also have the diagnostic tools, he said, trying to systematically record the progression of the phenomenon with the cooperation of all services under the supervision of the Ministry.
Asked about the symptoms of the disease, Mr. Anastasiades said that in addition to the well-known manifestation of high fever and sore throat, in some cases a characteristic rash characteristic of scarlet fever, one of the well-known childhood diseases that parents and pediatricians are well aware of. He said that what should worry parents is when the child's general condition is particularly affected with a prolonged fever.
Anastasiades said that the ages of children affected by the disease are over three years old, and therefore these cases are not easy to escape the attention
of parents. "We think that what is happening in the UK probably has to do with factors beyond the severity of the disease itself that have to do with the responsiveness of the health care system there. We believe that with the conditions we have in Cyprus, with the immediate accessibility to doctors for children, we will not experience this kind of phenomenon." He concluded.
In relation to the coronavirus situation, and when asked about it, the minister said that hospitalisations are 87 today and there is not at the moment any thought of reintroducing the mask. At the same time, he said, we need to send the message to people, especially people over 60 years of age, that they should be vaccinated immediately with the first or second booster dose because only with vaccination there will be no additional hospitalizations.
Source: CNA
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