Petrina Francis, Staff Reporter

The Ministry of Health yesterday confirmed two cases of malaria in the Great Bay area of St. Elizabeth.

The confirmation followed a statement from Senator Chris Tufton, caretaker for the South West St. Elizabeth constituency, that there were two cases - an elderly woman and a female student in the area.

According to the Ministry of Health, indications are that the new cases are associated with an imported case of a resident, who had recently visited a malaria-endemic country in Latin America.

Major concern

"This discovery of malaria in the Great Bay community and the parish of St. Elizabeth is of a major concern to residents and is likely to adversely impact economic and social activity in the parish," said Senator Tufton.

He noted that Great Bay is a fishing area and residents are exposed to foreigners involved in the fishing industry, particularly Hondurans and Nicaraguans and Colombians, and Haitians to a lesser extent, some of whom represent high-risk groups for malaria transmission.

To this end, Senator Tufton urged the Government to set up a monitoring mechanism to track foreigners visiting the area and locals travelling to malaria-endemic countries.

Meanwhile, the Health Ministry said intense malaria prevention and control measures are being implemented in the Great Bay area.

These include house-to-house visits in order to identify any other cases and a search-and-destroy thrust, aimed at the Anopheles mosquito larvae; fogging and spraying. The ministry is urging the communities to cooperate with the health teams in an attempt to contain the outbreak.