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Rad­hi­ca De Sil­va

Health in­spec­tors and lo­cal gov­ern­ment of­fi­cials are prepar­ing to roll out in­ten­si­fied spray­ing ef­forts af­ter the Min­istry of Health iden­ti­fied a clus­ter of malar­ia cas­es in South Trinidad. Malar­ia, a mos­qui­to-borne dis­ease caused by the Plas­mod­i­um par­a­site, is trans­mit­ted through the bite of in­fect­ed fe­male Anophe­les mos­qui­toes. While malar­ia is not en­dem­ic to T&T, the min­istry said cas­es are typ­i­cal­ly im­port­ed or in­tro­duced, with 153 record­ed be­tween 2015 and 2024, av­er­ag­ing 15 per year.

But speak­ing to Guardian Me­dia, Siparia May­or Dood­nath Mayrhoo said he would arrange for an emer­gency meet­ing to­day to dis­cuss the is­sue. He called on the Min­istry of Health to re­veal more de­tails.