Health authorities in  Herrera  Province are stepping up epidemiological surveillance after detection of the first case of imported malaria.

The announcement came from  Jacqueline Solís, director of the Dr. Cecilio A Castillero de Chitré, Regional Hospital. She said that the case

is a 30-year-old male patient from Venezuela entered the country on July 31, 2017 at 3:00 p.m. and moved to the district of Chitré the same day. The patient is being held in the hospital and kept isolated.

She said that it was not until  August 8  that he went to the emergency room of the Regional Hospital with symptoms of fever, low back pain and general discomfort. After lab tests, he was diagnosed positive for Malaria by imported plasmodium vivax, the first recorded case in the province in 2017.

Plasmodium Malaria is a life-threatening disease caused by parasites transmitted to humans by the bite of mosquitoes belonging to the Genus Plasmodium species.   There is no presence of the species in the province.

Solís said that at the inspection by vector inspectors no hatcheries of mosquitoes of any species were found.