Sunday, September 21 2008

Sources close to the Caribbean Epidemiology Centre (CAREC) confirmed yesterday that little Sasha Bickram did indeed contract dengue fever before she died. Sophisticated confirmatory tests on blood samples taken from the eight-year-old, mere hours before she died, have confirmed that she was infected with dengue fever.

Eight-year-old Sasha died at the San Fernando General Hospital in early August after spending five days at the hospital before any tests were carried out.

Even while her parents Rodney and Gloria Bickram remained distraught over their loss, Health Minister Jerry Narace sought to deny Sasha’s death being due to the mosquito borne virus.

Although Sasha’s death certificate listed complications arising out of dengue haemorrhagic fever as the cause of death, Narace said this was not proven as no forensic autopsy was performed on the body of the eight-year-old.

Sasha’s mother Gloria Bickram refused to exhume the body of her eight-year-old daughter in order for the autopsy to be carried out, stating that the process would be too hard for her and her family.

Narace also insisted that the only institutions capable of confirming if an individual has dengue is the Public Health Laboratory at the Caribbean Epidemiology Centre (CAREC).

In this latest turn, the source close to CAREC yesterday provided Newsday with a copy of the test results. On the document, the results report dated September 3 showed that Sasha tested “positive to Dengue lgM”. Dengue lgM shows the blood antibodies which are dispensed by the body’s immune system to fight the virus. Also on the report dated September 3 was “Dengue Type 2 Isolation.” This is where the virus is grown from the sample, confirming its presence. The sensitive and specific Dengue PCR detection is still pending.

According to Narace, the number of confirmed dengue cases continue to be lower than expected. The Minister admitted late last month that there were two deaths in the country due to dengue. He did not say if Sasha’s was one of these deaths.

Repeated calls to Narace yesterday for comment on the tests results went unanswered.