Health officials say the transmission of infectious diseases in the country has been significantly reduced over the last five years, and they are hoping that this trend continues.
It’s why they are urging persons traveling to Haiti and other countries with endemic diseases to take prophylactics before travel.
Chief Medical Officer in the Ministry of Health Dr. Merceline Dahl-Regis said that over the years the drug has proven to notably reduce the amount of persons returning with traces of infectious diseases.
“The malaria cases are very few with seven being the largest amount of imported reported cases in one year,” Dr. Dahl-Regis said.
“What we have done in the last three years to bring the numbers down is [get] the support from the travel agencies to disseminate the message that if you’re traveling to a endemic area or you’re going home for the holidays, take prophylactics before you go and that has impacted the number of returning cases.”
Dr. Dahl-Regis said it’s important that the message gets out because the majority of cases, such as the malaria cases, occur during February and March when many persons are returning from trips to Haiti.
Minister of Health Dr. Marcus Bethel recently said that the ministry’s activities in disease surveillance, prevention and control have reduced incidences of transmission of infectious diseases.
According to statistics released by the health minister, Haitian immigrants currently represent approximately 28 percent of HIV/AIDS infections, 21 percent of tuberculosis infections and 67 percent of malaria infections in the country.
A health report outlining the “Impact of Haitian and Other National Origins on Healthcare and Environmental Services”, pointed out that The Bahamas is not an area where malarial activity is great, but due to the large number of uncontrolled immigrants, there is a danger of the disease being imported or introduced.
The report said this has resulted in the Vector Control Unit of the Department of Environmental Health Services instituting vigilant methods to control and eliminate risk factors.
From 2000 to 2003, there were 10 reported laboratory confirmed cases of faliparum malaria, the report said.
This is regarded as a significant decline from the 1999 total of 30 cases, in which 22 were imported and eight introduced, six of which were Bahamian resulting in one death, the report added.
For the three confirmed malaria cases in 2003, the report states that two were Haitian nationals, returning from Haiti, and one was a Bahamian who also imported the disease.
The report also says that up to September 2004 there was a total of 1,825 Haitians living with HIV infections in The Bahamas. That figure represents 28 percent of all reported cases.
The report also revealed statistics on tuberculosis. Pointing out that it declined since 1986, with 450 cases reported between 1985 and1993.
The reports states, “Mechanisms implemented to address concerns have shown sustained achievement, with 42 reported cases in 2002. Migrants continue to contribute to this problem.”
Data from the Prison Health Services show that out of 1,997 prisoners screened for tuberculosis, 543 or 27 percent had positive mantoux, with 17 percent being Haitian nationals and 12 percent Jamaican nationals.
The mantoux skin test is a tuberculin skin test in which purified protein derivative is injected under the skin to test for sensitivity to the tubercle bacillus. A positive reaction indicates previous infection with TB.
Data from the Disease Surveillance Unit for 2003 showed that out of the 38 confirmed cases, 20.5 percent was Haitian nationals while 73.6 percent was Bahamians.
By: Bianca Symonette, The Bahama Journal
