AXA Assistance USA, Inc. Provides Care to UK Tourists During Stomach Virus Outbreak at Resort in Dominican Republic
CHICAGO -- AXA Assistance USA is providing critical care to more than 73 UK tourists who have fallen ill due to a stomach virus outbreak at the Bahia Principe Puerto Plata Resort in the Dominican Republic. More than 300 guests have been affected since Wednesday and more than 40 have been hospitalized.
On Aug. 5, assistance coordinators at AXA Assistance USA, Inc. started to receive a stream of phone calls from its customers in Puerto Plata reporting medical symptoms of gastroenteritis. In the past 72 hours, the AXA team has provided assistance to more than 70 British and Irish customer's medical cases of similar symptoms of nausea, vomiting and diarrhea complaints, originating from the Grande Bahia. The Bahia Principe Rio San Juan, a four-star resort with more than 2,000 occupant capacity in the Dominican Republic, was shut down on Aug. 6.
AXA Assistance USA initiated the "Blue Light" protocol, alerting the medical and operation departments to channel resources immediately to provide timely assistance and support to its customers in Puerto Plata. The Hospiten Clinic Assist is the only medical facility in the vicinity and is typically only staffed to handle minor ambulatory cases. Medical staffs from surrounding medical centers have arrived to assist in caring for these patients -- some of whom required intravenous fluid infusion and antibiotic administration in their hotel rooms.
AXA Assistance international medical director, Dr. Cai Glushak, immediately organized a team of experienced infectious disease and emergency medicine clinicians, and assistance coordinators to attend to this crisis. This team arrived onsite on Aug. 7 and includes a physician, a nurse, and an international assistance coordinator.
AXA Assistance USA's communication task force has alerted the appropriate regulatory agencies including the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the World Health organization (WHO), and the United Kingdom (UK) embassy in the Dominican Republic in regard to this gastroenteritis outbreak development.
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