Aswan cures 82 malaria-diagnosed travelers coming from Africa

CAIRO – 3 July 2019: As Egypt’s Aswan has been receiving dozens of Africans participating in the AFCON matches hosted, the city detected 82 travelers with malaria, and reportedly cured them all.

The malaria-diagnosed travelers were either coming or heading to Sudan and African, and they were detected at a quarantine imposed at the land and Nile ports in the southern city of Aswan, said Undersecretary of Health Ministry in Aswan Ehab Hanafy.

The cases were transferred to fever hospitals, and received the required treatment.

Travelers to sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia have the greatest risk of contracting malaria; however, all travelers to countries where malaria is present may be at risk for infection, according to AFP.

Malaria is a life-threatening disease caused by parasites that are transmitted through the bites of infected female Anopheles mosquitoes; it is both preventable and curable.

April 25 is named as World Malaria Day, in a bid to raise awareness of the conditions of the disease, and methods of prevention.

Hanafy further said that Aswan has been resisting diseases and insects coming from South Africa, protecting the rest of the country from many diseases. He noted that among the most dangerous insects that come from the south is the mosquito, which carries diseases such as the malaria, Ebola and Cholera.

“The health directorate in Aswan does not only explain to citizens prevention methods from diseases, but also works on eradicating insects through insecticide-based surveillance, and during the last period, Aswan has been eradicating the ladybird bug,” Hanafy added.

He stressed that there are combat teams that head to the northern borders with Sudan to fight those insects.