Press Release
OCTOBER 21st, 2003
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
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CONTACT: TIM O’CONNOR
PHONE:561-355-3576
FAX:561- 355-3038
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PALM
BEACH COUNTY, FL---The
Palm Beach County Health
Department announced today
that the malaria outbreak
should be over. During the
past three months eight
people have acquired the
disease locally. However,
the county remains under an
alert for other mosquito
borne disease like West Nile
Virus.
Health Department Director
Jean Malecki, MD, said, “We
have carefully evaluated the
eight cases of locally
acquired malaria. Science
tells us that the onset of
symptoms is generally from 7
to 30 days and the life span
of an infected Anopholes
mosquito is about two weeks.
We have had no new cases
since September 19 and I
feel we may have reached the
end of this outbreak.”
Malecki added that people
should continue to protect
themselves from mosquito
bites by wearing long
sleeves and pants from dusk
to dawn and using an insect
repellant containing DEET
according to the
manufacturers
recommendation.
There have been 20 small
outbreaks of locally
acquired mosquito
transmitted malaria since
1970 when it was certified
as eradicated in the United
States. The most recent
outbreak was the eight cases
acquired this summer in the
Lake Worth area of the
county.
Malaria is characterized by
high fever, headache, loss
of appetite, vomiting and
teeth chattering chills.
Transmission occurs when a
mosquito bites a person
carrying malaria and that
mosquito passes it along to
another individual. All
eight cases this summer were
the same strain called
Plasmodium vivax and through
molecular typing were
confirmed to be from the
same source.
The mosquito borne disease
alert will be lifted when
scientific evidence confirms
that West Nile Virus is no
longer present within the
county and surrounding
areas.
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