The ten-year-old boy from Rousillac, South Trinidad, who has been confirmed as having contracted Malaria will most likely be spending today (Christmas Day) in a hospital bed under a net in an isolated room, as treatment is ongoing.
However, there is good news for him, as he is expected to make a full recovery having responded well to treatment. He has also had “two-smears” so far which have come back negative.
This was the word from Chief Medical Office Dr Roshan Parasram at a media briefing called by the Ministry of Health yesterday, after a story broke in one of the daily newspapers that T&T was on a Malaria alert.
Parasram said a six-smear negative reading is what is needed before a Malaria patient is discharged. However, he said after a one-smear negative reading, once a strong case is built and sent to his office, he can make the final decision on whether or not the child or patient can be sent home for a special occasion or reason, including Christmas time. However, Parasram indicated that if a patient is sent home before the six-smear negative reading, they must be kept under nets as treatment is continued.
“With the blood smear we take a drop or two of blood from your finger, put it on a slide and we can tell right away if you are infected with Malaria and that was done in this case and the last 37 cases we have had in previous years,” Parasram said.
“To date, the child has two negative smears and once he reaches six then he can be discharged from the hospital. Once you reach one negative smear you cannot transmit. In this case, once the child is clinically well we can make an exception.”
Parasram explained that Malaria is caused by the Anopheles mosquito, which spreads the disease by biting one person and infecting another. The symptoms include headaches, fever and body aches.
He disclosed that four years ago, the Insect Vector Control Division commenced a detailed survey which is now mapped in a Geographical Information System where there is a monopoly of mosquitoes in the country.
“So every case we get, we use that layer that we have developed of the mapping, to map the cases of human disease as it relates to if there’s a possibility for an outbreak and we have done that in the past three years and continue to do that even with this case to this day,” Parasram said.
He said in cases where people have contracted the disease, health officials make contact with relatives who would have visited similar areas as the victim and tests are carried out to ensure that they have not contracted the disease.
Parasram said there are concerns of migrants in T&T coming in from countries where Malaria is prevalent, especially West Africa and parts of South America, including Venezuela and Guyana.
However, Minister of Health Terrence Deyalsingh assured that once any migrant presents themselves to any health institution they will be treated.
Deyalsingh reiterated that there is no Malaria outbreak in the country at this time.
Besides the child patient, there is one other confirmed case, he said, making it 38 cases for the year so far. More than 90 per cent of that figure were Venezuelan nationals who entered T&T with the disease. Usually, there are 25 cases recorded annually on average.