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Fears of Malaria outbreak add to alarm as Dengue deaths reach 41
posted on: Sep 4 2010 10:42 by Royston. Viewed 1169 times.
The Dominican Medical Association (CMD) said on Friday it feared an imminent outbreak of malaria with over 1,600 cases reported so far this year.
The reported incidence of malaria in the first eight months of 2010 exceeded the annual average of 1409 cases, according to figures from the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), and also exceeds the number of cases reported during all of 2009 in which nine people died.
Deputy Health Minister Jose Rodriguez Aybar said a few days ago that up to early August three people had died from malaria and that the total number of cases had reached 1644.
Although the average number of malaria cases yearly during the last decade is 1409, the worst year was 2005 with 3837 cases, the most since 1979.
Vice President of the CMD Clemente Terrero considered the increase could be linked to rains and floods in recent months, and increased migration to Haiti following the devastating earthquake of January 12.
Malaria is transmitted from person to person through the bite of the female anopheles mosquito, which breeds in stagnant water and the increased cases of malaria coincides with the increase in cases of dengue, which has led to 41 deaths this year, mostly infants.
Deputy Minister of Public Health , Nelson Rodriguez, suggested on Friday that many of the deaths from dengue have been due mainly to the inability of medical staff to make timely diagnoses.
He added that "If doctors do not feel competent to manage a patient with the initial symptoms of dengue, they should transfer the patient to another hospital right away.''
Data from the Ministry of Health indicate that up to Friday, 8839 cases of dengue had been reported, a figure much higher than the less than 3,000 cases recorded in the same period of 2009 when 27 people died.
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