Nine cases of malaria detected

Nine cases of malaria have been reported from Sri Lanka in the last four months, consultant community physician, Dr. Pubudu Upekshana Chulasiri, attached to the Health Promotion Bureau (HPB), said.

He said that these are people who have visited countries having malaria.

The common symptoms of malaria are fever, back pain, headache, extreme tiredness and fatigue and difficulty in breathing, he said.

Dr. Chulasiri added that although the disease was eradicated, in Sri Lanka, in 2012, each year they find about 60 people with malaria who have contracted this disease while they were in another country.

“Most of them have returned from Africa. We see a lot of Sri Lankan peacekeepers and gem businessmen returning with the disease. We usually check people returning from these high risk countries within six and 12 months after they arrive in the country, to determine if they carry the disease,” he said.

(RK)