The Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) states that it is closely monitoring the outbreak of the plasmodium falciparum malaria in Exuma, and the reports of malaria being diagnosed in other tourists who have visited the island.
International reports have verified that an American tourist has also tested positive for the disease upon his return to the US from the island.
According to the PHAC, a traveller must seek medical attention as soon as possible for an unexplained fever during or after travel to an area where malaria occurs.
“The traveller should request that a blood film (thick and thin films) be examined for malaria parasites. Progression from asymptomatic infection to severe and complicated malaria can be extremely rapid, with d death occurring within 36 to 48 h ours.
“Treatment for malaria depends on several factors: the species of malaria causing infection, severity of infection, the age of the infected individual, a and the pattern of drug resistance to malaria treatment in the area where the individual acquired the infection,” the report read.
The PHAC also states that if the disease is identified early, and treated properly, almost all malaria cases can be completely cured. “However, even short delays in the diagnosis of malaria can make treatment more difficult and less successful,” the report said.
The Bahamas’ Ministry of Health has recently had to quarantine a Haitian national from the other detainees at the Carmichael Road Detention Centre, after he showed signs of exposure to the disease.
The man was a part of a group of eight persons apprehended, reportedly in the same area in which the malaria cases were discovered. The group was transferred to Nassau two days after the initial malaria report was made public, drawing criticism for no attempt being made to contain the disease in one location.
The P. falciparum strain, which is the one diagnosed in Exuma, is the most severe and potentially fatal in humans. In its severest form the disease is said to cause damage to organs such as the brain (cerebral malaria), lungs, and the kidneys. Of all the organ damage, cerebral malaria is said to be particularly dangerous as it can produce high fever, headache, drowsiness, delirium, confusion, seizure, and coma.
The disease is spread mainly by the bite of a female Anoepheles mosquito which has already bitten an infected person.
After such a bite there is an incubation period which in most cases varies between seven and 30 days before any symptoms appear. The shorter periods are most frequently observed with the type of malaria that has been identified in Exuma. Health officials maintain that all that can be done is being done in Exuma, with fogging and the larvaciding of open water areas.
Malaria never used to be endemic to the Bahamas but may become so, as it is to some of its closest neighbours, such as Haiti, Central and South America, and the Dominican Republic.
By PAUL TURNQUEST Tribune Staff Reporter
