Teen Girl with West Nile Virus Alive and Stable at Queen Elizabeth Hospital: Miscommunication Clarified by Health Ministry and Prime Minister

The teenaged girl diagnosed with the West Nile Virus is very much alive and in stable condition at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH).

So declared her distressed mother yesterday after hearing Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley speak of “the passing of a young Barbadian girl [with the] West Nile Virus” during the Sagicor Life Inc. Lighting Ceremony last Friday in Heroes Square, The City.

“My daughter has been in hospital since June 16. There is no other child in Barbados with West Nile Virus . . . so to hear it at the ceremony . . . , it had a lot of people here and overseas devastated,” she told the DAILY NATION.

Yesterday, the Ministry of Health and Wellness issued a statement expressing regret about “any distress caused by the miscommunication”.

“We assure the public that reports suggesting that a child has passed away following infection with West Nile Virus infection are inaccurate,” said Chief Medical Officer

The Most Honourable Dr Kenneth George.

“We encourage everyone to continue taking proactive steps to prevent mosquito breeding in and around their homes. We are reminding persons that eliminating standing water in empty containers or other receptacles, along with other mosquito control practices, can help reduce the risk of mosquito-borne illnesses and protect public health.”

During her address, Mottley had urged Barbadians to guard against mosquito-borne illnesses.

“We live in a different world and the very shells and containers that you leave by your house gathering water, mosquitoes will come. Let’s deal with containers on the ground and coconut husks that are in water. When you get the mosquitoes, you can have dengue, chikungunya, Zika and, regrettably, as we now learned with the passing of a young Barbadian girl, West Nile Virus,” she told the gathering.

“The very things that we pass and leave, they may be the very reason that you end up with dengue or something worse, namely haemorrhagic dengue.”

It was not clear where the miscommunication occurred but after it was reported in yesterday’s SUNDAY SUN, the girl’s mother reached out to the NATION.

Barbados’ first case of West Nile Virus was announced by the World Health Organisation

(WHO) last month after it was confirmed in September. It’s been almost five months since the girl was admitted and remains in the Intensive Care Unit. Her mother says she has come a long way but there is still a long way to go.

“She had a brain infection, so her whole body was shut down. She is now still in recovery,” she said.