Berekum records high malaria cases

Berekum (B/A), Aug. 23, GNA – Berekum Municipal Health Directorate recorded 403,309 malaria cases at the Out-Patient Department of the Berekum Holy Family Hospital during the first half of this year.

Mr Joseph Gyebi-Buaben, Municipal Malaria Control Officer, who disclosed this to the GNA, said three out of 340 of the cases put on admission for observation died while the others were treated and discharged.

He said the affected persons were mostly children below five years, pregnant women and patients with sickle cell and HIV/AIDS.

He said comparing the 77,691 recorded cases last year against the number recorded in the first half-year of this year, there was an increase of 35.7 percent.

He said plasmodium falciparum, plasmodium malaria, plasmodium vivax and plasmodium ovale were the four types of parasites that caused malaria, noting that apart from plasmodium ovale the other three plasmodiums were common in Ghana.

Mr Gyebi-Buaben said the most common and dangerous among the three transmitters was plasmodium falciparum, which was caused by the female anopheles mosquito.

He appealed to field workers especially those in charge of malaria control to redouble their efforts and the general public to follow the precautionary measures to control the disease in their various communities.

He said malaria infections could cause death if not well treated, in addition to causing low birth weight and miscarriages in pregnant woman.

Mr Gyebi-Buaben said there was the need for people to sleep under treated insecticide mosquito nets, clear bushes around homes, fill pot-holes in the streets and observe other hygienic environmental practices in order to prevent the disease from occurring.