2 weeks ago
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Belize achieved a historic public health milestone in June 2023 when it was officially declared malaria-free by the World Health Organization after completing three consecutive years without a single indigenous case. Officials emphasize that these current imported cases do not change that hard-won status, as the certification remains intact as long as local transmission is prevented. The Ministry is urging all travelers heading to rural, forested, or border areas in neighboring countries to take strict precautions to avoid mosquito bites. Malaria symptoms typically appear between seven and thirty days after infection and often include fever, chills, headache, body aches, sweating, fatigue, nausea, and vomiting. Anyone experiencing these flu-like symptoms during or after travel is strongly advised to seek immediate medical care and inform their healthcare provider of their recent travel history. In addition to the malaria response, authorities are also monitoring regional developments regarding Chikungunya in South America and Cuba. Belize continues to maintain the laboratory capacity to test for both Chikungunya and Zika, noting that no local transmission of these diseases has been recorded since 2016 and 2017, respectively. Bautista also gave an update on the data of mosquito borne diseases in Belize.
Kim Buatista, Vector Control: “So in terms of mosquito-borne illnesses we tend to monitor, as I mentioned, dengue, zika, Chikungunya and malaria. Those are the primary ones in the region. Of course, with zika and chicken Chikungunya those have not been detected, as I mentioned earlier, since 2016 and ’17, respectively. Local malaria transmission was last detected in 2018. At that time, the country went five consecutive years with zero. On the 19th of June 2023, the WHO certified us as malaria free. And since then we’ve seen sporadic cases, imported cases. We have had a couple associated introduced cases to those imported cases but not reestablishment of malaria in any part of the country. In terms of dengue, which tends to be the primary mosquito-borne illness in the country last year we reported a total of 2,794 dengue cases which was up from the previous year where it was basically like a 22% increase over 2024. And so the early forecast for this year is for a lower transmission in the region than last year. That is what the early trends look like and so we hope to have a much better reporting year this year.”
English (US) ·