Greek authorities must urgently step up control of mosquitoes and
surveillance of infected people to stop malaria from re-establishing itself in
the crisis-hit country, scientists said on Friday. Writing in online journal
Eurosurveillance, they said recent outbreaks of the disease in the southern
regions of Lakonia and East Attica were worrying.
Tackling malaria requires measures such as insecticide spraying,
eliminating standing water and tracking mosquito populations as well as people
infected with the disease. "It is clear that surveillance and vector
control programs should be strengthened and rapidly intensified," said the
study, led by researchers at the Hellenic Centre for Disease Control and
Prevention (HCDCP) in Athens.
Greece's healthcare system is under extreme pressure from budget cuts,
and experts fear groups such as the poor, unemployed or homeless, many of them
immigrants, are not getting treatment they need. Malaria, which causes high
fever and chills and kills hundreds of thousands of people a year worldwide,
was once endemic in Greece but was officially eliminated in 1974.
Most cases since then have been imported by travelers, mainly from
Africa and Asia. But Greece has established populations of potentially malarial
mosquito species, and last year, 40 cases of locally-acquired malaria were
reported, mainly in Lakonia and Attica. Between January 1 and October 22 this
year Greece reported 75 cases in total, 16 of which were locally acquired. Other
mosquito-borne diseases, including West Nile virus carried by Culex modestus
mosquitoes, also occur in Greece.
Apostolos Veizis, director of medical-operational support for Medecins
Sans Frontieres in Greece, warned in a statement earlier this month that any
malaria plan could not work properly unless access to healthcare was available
to all. "It is very important to monitor the situation and invest in
mosquito control," he said. "But medically speaking if people cannot
be examined and properly diagnosed, it's easy to lose sight of the
problem." The HCDCP experts said a coordinated effort had begun with the
collaboration of Greek authorities, the European Centre for Disease Prevention
and Control and World Health Organisation (WHO) experts to prevent malaria
returning.
Source: Chicago Tribune
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