Two cases of malaria
reported in southern Johannesburg were likely caused by mosquitoes
that were accidentally imported from malaria areas, the Gauteng health department
"Although the Gauteng province is not a malaria endemic area, there
have been cases where the malaria ...infected mosquitoes were imported into the
province by people travelling from Malaria endemic areas...," spokesman
Simon Zwane said in a statement.
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These imported mosquitoes could then infect people with malaria, but
conditions in Gauteng did not allow the type of mosquitoes that carry the
disease to breed.
Two people diagnosed with malaria, in Eldorado Park and Lenasia two weeks
ago, had not travelled to malaria endemic areas, Zwane said.
"The possibility is that they were infected through importation of
Last year, 1700 cases of malaria were reported in Gauteng and 23 people died
from the disease.
"It was established that those who [died], were people who did not take
precautionary measures against the disease and presented late at health
Zwane said that people travelling to malaria areas, such as the Kruger
National Park, Tanzania and Mozambique, needed to start taking medication to
prevent the disease before their journeys. Malaria symptoms include fever,
flu-like symptoms, body aches and pains, nausea,
vomiting and diarrhoea.
Anyone experiencing these symptoms should seek medical help.
The National Institute for Communicable Diseases said that the two Gauteng
residents infected with malaria had responded well to treatment.
The institute said that it was very rare for malaria-carrying mosquitoes to
survive the journey from their places of origin.
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