Akif ÖZALP/ SİİRT, (DHA)- SİİRT Provincial Health Directorate, Communicable Diseases and Environmental Health Unit Responsible Dr. Selman Yürek said, “As a result of the work of our Ministry, there are no local malaria cases in our country. Only ‘imported’ cases, that is, cases coming from abroad, are reported. “According to the data we have accessed in the last 10 years, we only have 1 imported case in Siirt, which was determined to have gone abroad last year, and no other case has been seen,” he said.
Provincial Health Directorate Communicable Diseases and Environmental Health Unit Supervisor Dr. Selman Yürek, in his statement on the occasion of April 25 World Malaria Day, said that the malaria cases seen in Turkey were only ‘imported’ cases in the last 10 years. Dr. Yürek stated that only 1 case has been seen in the city in the last 10 years and said, “As a result of the work of our Ministry, there is no local malaria case in our country. Only ‘imported’ cases, that is, cases coming from abroad, are reported. According to the data we have access to in the last 10 years, we have 1 imported case in our Siirt province, identified in a person who went abroad only last year, and no other case has been seen. Malaria is a parasitic infection called plasmodium and is transmitted by female anopheles mosquitoes. A disease in which the general symptoms in patients are high fever, chills, shivering and excessive sweating. “It is a disease generally seen in swampy and hot climates, African countries, and Central and Eastern American countries,” he said.
‘MALARIA IS FATAL IF IT IS NOT INTERVENED EARLY’
Stating that there are no local cases thanks to the work carried out by the Ministry of Health and local governments, Yürek said, “In our country, within the framework of the work of our Ministry of Health, we do not have any local cases, regardless of the pesticides carried out in municipalities, the drugs sent by the ministry to physicians and the regulations. In order to be protected from malaria, our citizens who will go abroad can get their vaccinations and wear long-sleeved, covered clothes when they go there. They must be in closed spaces, and when they go, they can use the preventive medications prescribed by their physicians. They can use fly repellent sprays. You need to do these to protect yourself. Malaria is a fatal disease if not treated early. In case of a mosquito bite, these parasites, plasmodiums, pass through the blood to the liver, settle in the erythrocytes there, multiply and cause a sudden explosion in the blood circulation, and these explosions cause high fever and seizures within 24-72 hours. “It becomes fatal if not intervened early due to erythrocyte loss,” he said. (DHA)
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