DEADLY RISK

WESTERN BUREAU:

Days before a leptospirosis outbreak was officially declared across several Jamaican parishes, including Westmoreland, public health officials were already warning residents in Whithorn about serious risks linked to using untreated river water.

Their early intervention appears to be changing behaviour in the Ancho Mountain and Whithorn communities, where many residents have relied on the Ancho River for domestic purposes since Hurricane Melissa.

Amanda McKenzie, a resident who lives in the area, was on track with her regular routine of visiting the river in the morning. Last week, she was caught preparing to brush her teeth, using the unfiltered river water while standing close to a compromised pit latrine.

Her routine was fortunately interrupted as a member of the Westmoreland Health Department approached her with a warning she wasn’t expecting.

“I normally use the water for bathing and washing,” McKenzie said, recalling the moment. “I was about to [brush my teeth] before the person from the Health Department came and told me that the water is not safe right now because there’s a lot of cases in Whithorn where people are catching leptospirosis.”

He handed her chlorine tablets – one of the few immediate shields residents have against contamination in a community where piped water is currently unreliable.

“When I was about to use the water, he gave me some tablets and put one in the five-gallon and let it dissolve and then I could use it,” she continued. “So, I’ve got to pass on the message to some people, you know.”

Although a few cases had already emerged in Whithorn, the riverbank remained busy. Women washed their clothes on the rocks while children splashed and played, oblivious to the risks. Some residents collected water to cook, bathe or scrub floors – a matter of part necessity, part culture – as these practices have long outlived hurricanes, droughts, and the unpredictable swing of the rural water supply.

But it could also be part of the problem.

McKenzie says her family already avoids drinking untreated water.

“Drinking water, we normally buy water,” she said. “We buy water to drink and cook.”

Now armed with new information, The Sunday Gleaner asked if she would return to the river.

“I don’t think so right now,” she replied. “I can’t afford for my family to catch leptospirosis.”

But if she does come back, she promises to use the tablets.

Leptospirosis is typically transmitted through exposure to urine or bodily fluids from infected animals by various means, including contact with water or wet soil.

SIX SUSPECTED DEATHS

Last week, the health ministry declared a leptospirosis outbreak, noting that there were six suspected deaths. Nine cases of the disease have been confirmed, and there are 28 suspected or probable cases from October 30 to November 20. Eight parishes have confirmed and/or suspected cases – St Ann, St Mary, St James, Hanover, Westmoreland, St Elizabeth, St Catherine and Trelawny.

For Gerald Miller of the Ministry of Health and Wellness, Amanda’s shift in awareness is exactly what the outreach team hoped for.

He spent last week moving across the district, visiting riverbanks and communities where residents rely heavily on surface water, especially after Hurricane Melissa’s torrential rains and a lack of electricity disrupted normal supply systems.

Miller stood near the culvert where the Ancho River runs beneath the road, and a breakaway now sends water flowing across the main road, explaining the purpose of his visit.

“From Monday, we have been visiting this particular community in Whithorn here, where the Ancho River is, and we are very pleased with the response from the residents,” he told The Sunday Gleaner. “We went there trying to inform them about the safety of water and also giving them chlorine tablets to put in the water and to also educate them how to use it.”

This is one of many emerging streams where residents of Whithorn meet their domestic water needs, including the Brygin River and another stream, supposedly the Darliston River, which have emerged and now flow over the main road now.

“It is encouraging for me because I have seen where the persons are appreciative of what we were sharing with them and also to enlighten them about the dangers of them walking through the water,” Miller said. “Looking at it, they have the view that it is safe, but from our travelling [through] the community, … you would have seen the risk.”

That risk includes animal activity, which is constant and uncontrolled.

“You have cows and other animals that are close by, and you notice that dasheens are planted in that particular area, so all those human activities now put the whole thing at risk,” Miller said. “It is important for our persons to understand that they can contract leptospirosis from water like this.”

The Sunday Gleaner took a trek up to the alleged spring where water stood stagnant on one side and cows grazed on the other side. The rush of river water itself was said to be flowing from elsewhere, despite residents thinking they knew the source.

Some residents, however, did not care to know where the water was coming from.

BASICS OF LEPTOSPIROSIS WERE MISUNDERSTOOD

For many residents, even the basics of leptospirosis were misunderstood.

“They know that if rats bite something and they eat it, … [they could fall ill], but they were not very knowledgeable that other animals, too, can transmit leptospirosis,” he said. “[They didn’t know that] they can get it by means of wading through water like the water they are using now.”

But only a few people can observe community habits around the river as closely as Woodroe Walker. His home sits directly beside the culvert, giving him a daily view of who comes to bathe or collect water.

Walker said he immediately noticed a shift after the health team’s first visit.

“I’m living practically next door to the river, so in the mornings, a lot of people would come out for washing.”

But today, things looked different.

“It seems like some people got the information that you guys passed through yesterday and educated the people about the dangers of using that … water for drinking,” he said. “And I saw the results this morning. The amount of people that came that would ordinarily be here cut down this morning.”

Meanwhile, Walker himself refuses to touch the water.

“If a man wants to urinate, or defecate, he will just get in the water and [it] come down, and people will use it,” he said. “So, I kind of use my cranium – my common sense – so that’s a no-no,” he reasoned.

Despite growing awareness, Miller knows behaviour change will be gradual.

“Some of them did say that although they have the commodity during normal times or prior, they would still go there for washing and so on,” he said. “So it’s something that’s a part of the culture and so we have to work with them and try to change their whole perception.”

Other high-risk zones across the parish include Sweet River, Top Hill, Bluefields, Frome and any other communities where there are emerging streams due to Melissa.

Miller mentions the rising water in Williamsfield, Manchester, where residents were advised to avoid the water. Similarly, he applied the same approach to water sources that may be contaminated in Westmoreland.

“Behaviour change is a process,” Miller said. “And I am sure that we would have impacted some of the persons, enlightening them.”

The river is part of life in Whithorn, but in the face of rising leptospirosis cases, survival trumps tradition here.

With Westmoreland health centres and hospitals not performing at full capacity, McKenzie says right now is certainly not the time to contract critical illnesses.

mickalia.kington@gleanerjm.com