– director of unit says dengue fever remains a concern
Despite a rise of mosquito-borne diseases in the region and South America, there has been a “noticeable” drop in malaria transmission in Guyana in 2013 while dengue fever continues to pose a major threat, Director of the Vector Control Services Dr Reyaud Rahman has said.
Even though he was not in a position to release current figures, Rahman estimated that there was a little over 31,000 cases of malaria in 2012. But those figures, he told Stabroek News, fell in 2013 after the unit stepped up its field works and awareness campaigns. “We were able to bring down the figures to 30,000 cases and that number has been dropping,” he said, noting that there had been less than 20 recorded malaria deaths.
Malaria, a communicable disease that is carried by the female Anopheles mosquito, affects over 219 million people worldwide every year. It is caused by the presence of tiny parasites in the blood and exists predominantly in mining and loggings camps because the mosquitos are present in the forests and swamps
