The Pedro Kourí Institute of Tropical Medicine (IPK) in Havana has confirmed the diagnosis of an imported case of malaria. This is a case detected on January 26 in a traveler from the Sancti Spiritus municipality of Jatibonico, who had arrived from Angola.
Dr. Carlos Ruiz Santos, director of the Provincial Center for Hygiene, Epidemiology and Microbiology of Sancti Spíritus, confirmed that this territory had not reported an imported case of this disease since 2020.
The patient, who is not a Health collaborator, arrived in Jatibonico on December 24 from the People’s Republic of Angola. After spending several days at his house, he began to develop fever, general malaise, and skin lesions on January 17. On January 23 he decided to seek medical attention and was admitted because he came from a country endemic for malaria and other diseases.
A complementary analysis (thick smear) was positive for Vivax malaria, a disease transmitted by the Anopheles species mosquito. Since then, the patient remains admitted to Infectious Room 4A of the Camilo Cienfuegos General Provincial Hospital.
The health authorities have carried out an active investigation that covered more than 1,000 homes in a radius of 1,000 meters around the patient’s home. In addition, 1,025 homes were fumigated on three occasions and traps were placed to capture adult mosquitoes. Extra-home treatment was also carried out with two high-tech equipment.
At the moment there are no new positive cases reported. However, work will continue on focus control until 21 days have passed since its opening. Once the patient is discharged, surveillance will be maintained for 6 months due to the possibility that he may have some form of life of the parasite in the liver tract, which could then become an adult and cause the disease again.
The media reminds that all travelers, upon their return to Cuba, must appear at their medical office within 48 hours to carry out the surveillance correctly.