the infection occurred in another ward

The health authorities of Caldas have carried out a field investigation which confirmed that the positive case of malaria which was notified in the village kilometer 41 of Manizales, is imported.

The technicians of the Vector-Transmitted Diseases area, ETV, carried out work in the area to verify if the patient had contracted the parasite in that place or in another, through an active community search to verify if there were other people with symptoms and the patient’s last movements.

“It was established through the interview that the patient had a move to another area endemic for this type of parasite and It is confirmed that the disease was acquired in the Chocó department, therefore it is excluded that it comes from kilometer 41,” said Sandra Yadid Patiño Romero, biologist of the Caldas Health Territory ETV program.

The professionals reminded the community that they should be careful of puddles, troughs for livestock, ponds that accumulate water, because that’s where breeding sites are formed. and have announced that they will continue to carry out control work in this village of Manizales, bearing in mind that it is an endemic area for this disease.

“On this occasion we have carried out field work as an active search for hatcheries where this vector can be found and we have found Anopheles larvae in the sector of the lane, which does not generate alarm, since this area is endemic for this vector and the last malaria outbreak It was 2018, but at the moment the parasite is not circulating and therefore there is no outbreak,” Patiño Romero stressed.

According to the Pan American Health Organization, PAHO, malaria or paludism is a disease caused by the Plasmodium parasite, which is transmitted by the bite of an infected mosquito. Only the Anopheles genus of mosquitoes transmits malaria.

According to the Organization, symptoms of this disease can include fever, vomiting and headache.; appearing 10 to 15 days after the mosquito bite.

PAHO recommends the use of insecticide-impregnated bed nets and residual indoor spraying with insecticides as preventative measures against this disease; Its functions are to reduce the risk of infected mosquito bites.

Emphasize that malaria is potentially deadly and kills one child every 2 minutes in the world. In 2015 there were 212 million cases of this disease which caused an estimated 429,000 deaths, many of them African children.

“About half of the world’s population is at risk of contracting malaria, especially those living in low-income countries.. In the Americas, 132 million people are thought to live in areas at risk of contracting it,” indicate from PAHO.

The contagion from covid-19 continues: the Ministry of Health asks not to let our guard down against the virus

Although the pandemic virus no longer generates the same concern as before, the Ministry of Health in Colombia urges us not to let our guard down against the consequences of being infected with covid-19, as it is worth remembering that the virus still exists for a long time and wide not only the country, but the whole world.

According to data shared by the Ministry of Health, in the last three weeks the number of people infected with the virus has increased in Colombia, going from 600 and 700 cases a week to 2,112 in the last week. However, those charged with ensuring the protection of citizens indicate that there is no increase in hospitalizations or deaths.

Therefore, COVID-19 continues to be a virus that challenges people’s health locally and globally. The Ministry of Health says this is due to the different mutations and stresses of the omicron variant.

Along the same lines, the deputy director of Communicable Diseases, William Alberto Robles Fonnegra, cited the Administrative Bodies of the Health Plan (Eapb), the local authorities and citizens in general so that they do not let their guard down against the virus. On the contrary, the expert specifies that protection and measures against covid-19 and respiratory diseases with similar symptoms must continue.