THE Ministry of Health yesterday issued a travel advisory to Jamaicans visiting malaria-affected countries following the confirmation of two imported cases here.
“The Ministry of Health is urging Jamaicans to be cautious when travelling to areas affected with malaria,” the ministry said, and advised Jamaicans to contact their physician or health centre before travelling to malaria endemic areas and if they develop symptoms such as fever, chills, headache, sweats, fatigue, nausea, and vomiting after returning from affected territories.
The release said that the cases were confirmed by the National Public Health Laboratory and a private laboratory on January 5 and 6, respectively, and that an investigation began immediately and the two people were admitted to hospital.
It also said that the repeat blood smear for the second patient showed negative at the National Public Health Laboratory, but that blood will be drawn nightly for at least three nights to determine the status of this patient.
The ministry also confirmed that one of the infected individuals is a Jamaican who was living in Ghana and returned to Jamaica in November 2016. The second case is a male Indian who arrived in Jamaica in March 2016.
There were three confirmed cases of imported malaria in 2016 in two people. One person visited Gabon twice and returned to Jamaica with malaria on both occasions.
The ministry said since the cases were detected, health workers visited 179 homes; conducted interviews in 156 of the homes; identified 17 fever cases; and took 31 blood samples with none testing positive for the disease so far.
Jamaica eliminated malaria after the successful Malaria Eradication Campaign of 1958/62 with the last endemic case being in 1961.
The parasite is transmitted to humans by the infected bite of female Anopheles mosquitoes called malaria vectors.
The World Health Organization, in the World Malaria Report of 2016, said that there were 91 countries with ongoing malaria transmission. According to the report, there were approximately 212 million new cases of malaria worldwide in 2015.
