Updates & Emerging Issues

Rapid Direct Detection of SARS-CoV-2

Rapid Direct Detection of SARS-CoV-2 Aerosols in Exhaled Breath at the Point of Care Airborne transmission via virus-laden aerosols is a dominant route for the transmission of respiratory diseases, including severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Direct, non-invasive screening of respiratory virus aerosols in patients has been a long-standing technical challenge. Here, we introduce

Urgent action required to protect SIDS

Bridgetown, Barbados, Wednesday 14 June 2023 (PAHO) – The Pan American Health Organization Director (PAHO), Dr. Jarbas Barbosa, has urged small island developing states (SIDS) of the Caribbean to ensure “political leadership at the highest levels” in order to tackle the issue of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and mental health in the Region. In the wake

OECS Convenes Inaugural Tenders and Technical Advisory Committee Meeting

Friday, March 17, 2023 — The OECS Pooled Procurement Service (PPS) convened its 1st Meeting of the Tenders and Technical Advisory Committee in Saint Lucia on March 7 – 8,  2023.  The Meeting reviewed Bids and Tenders submitted by suppliers, the award of contracts for Laboratory and Diagnostic Commodities for the Tender cycle 2023 – 2025,

PAHO, local groups to offer 35,000 free covid tests

After weeks of Carnival parties and two days of playing mas in large crowds without wearing masks or following any covid19 protocols, the number of covid19 cases in TT is expected to rise. To ensure the public knows their covid19 status and so can take proper precautions, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), the Catholic

CMLF and partners co-ordinate free COVID-19 testing post Carnival

Members of the Catholic Community joined efforts to stop the spread of COVID-19 by making rapid COVID-19 antigen testing FREE & available to the public on Ash Wednesday at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, Port of Spain. The initiative was sponsored by CCSJ Trinidad and Tobago, PAHO Caribbean, Medical Research Foundation, Caribbean Med Labs

U.S. investigating first cases of “concerning” new drug-resistant gonorrhea strain

Health authorities in Massachusetts announced Thursday they have identified two cases of a new strain of gonorrhea that appears to have developed resistance to a broad swath of antibiotic treatments. Both patients got better after getting injections of ceftriaxone, the main drug currently recommended to treat cases of the sexually transmitted infection. But state health

Why maggots are a medical marvel

What do Genghis Khan, the American Civil War and the UK’s health service have in common? The answer is, perhaps surprisingly, maggots. Dr Erica McAlister, an entomologist and Senior Curator at the Natural History Museum in the UK, explores how having maggots munching away at the decaying flesh of a wound might not be as terrible as

Parliament passes law to regulate medical labs

Parliament has passed a law regulating the operations of medical laboratories in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, giving current laboratories nine months in which to obtain a licence or cease operation. In piloting the Medical Laboratories Bill, which was passed with bipartisan support, Minister of Health Jimmy Prince spoke of the role that medical laboratories