Health Minister Micheal Joseph
A visiting traveller who recently arrived in Antigua and Barbuda from a malaria-endemic country has died after contracting the mosquito-borne illness, health authorities confirmed Friday.
Minister of Health Michael Joseph disclosed the development during a national health briefing, where officials also revealed that two imported malaria cases have been identified in recent days.
According to the Ministry of Health, the deceased male visitor became critically ill shortly after entering the country and was rushed to the Sir Lester Bird Medical Centre for treatment.
Medical personnel reportedly battled to stabilize the patient over several days, but his condition worsened and he later died while hospitalized.
Authorities said the traveller had spent only about five days in Antigua and Barbuda and is believed to have either arrived with symptoms already developing or became ill almost immediately after arrival.
Health officials stressed that the infection was not contracted locally and there is currently no evidence of community spread or local transmission within Antigua and Barbuda.
A second imported case involving another male traveller was also confirmed. Officials said that individual received treatment after becoming sick and has since departed the country.
Minister Joseph expressed condolences to the family of the deceased while assuring the public that the country’s surveillance and mosquito-control systems have been intensified out of caution.
Public health teams have reportedly increased monitoring operations in several areas as authorities work to prevent any possible spread.
We’re these persons not immunized against the disease
Were these people not immunized against malaria?
Why aren’t we being told the exact date of entry into Antigua as well as the country the deceased and other infected individual came from or traveled here from?
Also, include information on the symptoms and treatment for Malaria.
There is no vaccine for Malaria.
He had to have come into Antigua with malaria , since there’s an incubation period of about 10 days after the bite.
That says to me ; In this age of highly communicable and infectious diseases our borders, customs and immigration,,, needs to be fortified against these types of entries.
Do the immigration forms ask where you have been in the last ??? days prior to travel? Do they ask about your exposure to specific listed diseases? The answers would have alerted immigration.
Also, did any of the two get bitten by mosquitos while here? Can local mosquitos ingest the pathogen that causes malaria and cause it to become endemic here in Antigua?
Did all the infected come to Antigua from the same country? What are the countries?
Wow. That’s frightening. Very frightening. Not the news I was expecting to read tonight