Medical team set for follow-up malaria visit in Region 7

The emergency medical team deployed to Waramadong, Region Seven last month to investigate claims of a malaria outbreak will be making a follow-up visit to the community some time this week.

Minister of Health, Dr Bheri Ramsaran announced that a team comprising 20 medical professionals will spend two weeks in the region where they will conduct smears, deliver treatment, hold sensitisation sessions and train persons to use the microscope. The training will be conducted in Kamarang, the minister said at the Malaria Conference held at the Princess Hotel on Thursday.

According to a Govern-ment Information Agency press release issued on Friday, the team will visit the communities where the students who were tested for malaria originate, including Jawalla, Imbaimadai, Isseneru and Koko.

In January a medical team was swiftly deployed to the region following claims of a malaria outbreak at the Waramadong Secondary school dorm. “The team conducted 369 smears, 14 of which were positive, most of them from Jawalla, and one each from Imbaimadai, Isseneru, and Koko,” GINA said, adding that a 26-year-old woman also tested positive for the disease. Smears were also done in the homes that the infected persons visited.

After conducting mass smears in the community the team found a few imported cases, but no epidemic. The reported cases stemmed from students being bitten by the anopheles mosquito while home during the Christmas vacation.