Human Interest
NW cases thought to be "suitcase malaria"─── DANE BEISHEIM 16:06 Mon, 13 Mar 2017
Potchefstroom - No new incidences of malaria have been reported in North West. This is according to the National Institute for Communicable Diseases’ Lucille Bloomberg, and follows three recent cases in the province.
Riekie Fuls (60) from Swartruggens succumbed to the disease on February 12. Her husband Johan Fuls (70) was diagnosed with the disease as well, and shortly after admitted to the Life Peglerae Hospital in Rustenburg. Johann Lampbrechts (21) from Northam in Limpopo was also treated in the same hospital.
Bloomberg says a team visited the Swartruggens farm where the Fuls’ stayed on Friday, and found no evidence of malaria infestation. This, coupled with the fact that North West is not a known malaria area, leads them to believe that this was a rare case of so-called “suitcase malaria”.
“[This is] where an infected mosquito is translocated in some sort of transport or suitcase from a known malaria area, survives the journey and then infects someone at their destination," Bloomberg adds.
OFM News
