Two Belizeans Test Positive for Malaria Following Guatemala Trip

Tonight, there are more details of the two confirmed imported malaria cases that were detected in Crique Sarco Village, Toledo and according to health official, they were likely contracted in Guatemala. While Belize maintains its malaria-free status, the Ministry of Health and Wellness is intensifying surveillance to prevent local transmission. Director of Public Health and Wellness Dr. Melissa Diaz-Musa says  healthcare teams remain well-prepared.

 

Dr. Melissa Diaz-Musa, Director of Health and Wellness

“We have confirmed two malaria cases in Crique Sarco Village. These persons had traveled over to Guatemala within the timeframe and started with symptoms in the mid-January, and they were recently diagnosed. So these cases are defined as imported cases, which means that they had become infected outside of Belize. Even though we define them as important cases. It’s also important to note that, we need to ensure that there’s no transmission, no local transmission in country. So we still give the education aspects. We try to ensure that persons utilize what is needed, the repellent, keeping the home screen, staying indoors, et cetera. And we also do enhance surveillance. So we go to the villages and the surrounding villages. We test everyone. We look for persons with fever. We look for persons with joint pains and other signs and symptoms of malaria. And we do our testing. In Belize with the Ministry of Health and Wellness, we’re able to readily test for dengue, malaria, chick v, Zika. And so these are vector born illnesses that may present with very similar symptoms. So we are encouraging the public that if you do have any of these symptoms, just come to any of our facilities and you can be easily tested.”

 

Reporter

“Did they go to our health facilitate?”

 

Dr. Melissa Diaz-Musa

“Yes. They, they were true. Well, we do have our community health workers on the ground. We have about three hundred community health workers. And these persons are our eyes and ears in our community. So especially in rural areas, they go house to house, they do health education and they try to pick up anyone who’s sick or they do preventative messages as well. They do screening. So that is how these persons were picked up through the community health workers who did the test and found that the test was positive and then they were then taken to the health facility.”

 

Belize Saw Rise in Influenza Amid Cold Front

 Belize recorded an increase in influenza cases in January during an unusually cold period linked to a cold front. Health officials say the spike mirrored outbreaks reported in the United States and Canada. Although case numbers have since declined, Director of Health and Wellness Dr. Melissa Diaz-Musa is urging the public to get vaccinated.

 

Dr. Melissa Diaz-Musa, Director of Health and Wellness

“Over in January we saw an increase in H3N3, which is an influenza virus, and that’s the subtype of the virus. That was the one that was spreading in the United States and Canada in different areas. And we are able to test at the Central Medical Lab, again, we test for influenza A, influenza B, COVID, and many of the other viral infections. The recent report shows that it has become now stagnant. And hopefully we’ll see a following base. We also, I want to take this opportunity to say that we also have the flu vaccine available at every health facility, private and public, and the pneumococcal vaccine that helps to prevent pneumonias and other diseases in children and adults. So I encourage you all to go out and get this as soon as possible.”

 

Reporter

“Talk about vaccines, you know, during the COVID there was a lot of talk about vaccines. Since then, have you seen any change in, in terms of people seeking certain vaccines?”

 

Melissa Diaz-Musa

“I think initially after COVID not that I think, I know that we had a significant fall in our routine vaccination programs for most of our vaccines. Now we have recovered very nicely and I’d like to say that for example, the HPV vaccine, which is the human papillo virus vaccine, and it prevents cervical cancer, for example, ninety plus percent of cervical cancer is linked to HPV. Initially, post COVID, we had fallen to about thirty-eight and our reports show that for 2025 we’re at seventy-six percent, which is wonderful for us and which really helps us to eventually get to the goal of the elimination of cervical cancer in our country.”

 

Ministry Confirms Port Loyola Polyclinic Set for Demolition

 On Tuesday, we reported community concerns in Southside Belize City over the apparent stripping of the Port Loyola Polyclinic. Residents noticed doors, windows, and fixtures had been removed from the building, which has been closed for months due to mold. Today, Dr. Melissa Diaz-Musa, Director of Health and Wellness, clarified that the dismantling is part of an approved demolition following the clinic’s condemnation.

 

Dr. Melissa Diaz-Musa, Director of Health and Wellness

“The Port Loyola Clinic has been closed now for over a year and the Ministry of Health and Wellness who did an assessment along with CBA and MIDH to look at whether or not the building could be retrofitted or if the building would’ve been condemned. The report came back that the building was condemned, and for that reason we moved our staff. Because we felt that of course it would not be safe for our staff and for patients to come into our facilities if it is not if it’s a building that’s condemned. So, as I’ve explained yesterday, the services have been moved to the Welcome Resource Center, excellent services. We do have the mentally ill, they can access counseling they can access psych, the psychiatric care. We have our psychiatric nurse practitioners and compounded with that, they can also get the food and the clothing, the shower, and a place to rest at the Welcome Resource Center. So in the near future, that building will be demolished and a new building will be built on that same land. That’s the plan for now.”

 

Britney Gordon

“Is there a timeline on that?”

 

Dr. Melissa Diaz-Musa

“Well, we are progressing quite swiftly. We hope that the demolition could occur within the next month after which we’ve already reviewed plans of the new facility and we’re just tweaking and making some changes with the plans. So we’re looking at, at least within the next year for billing to commence.”

 

Attention readers: This online newscast is a direct transcript of our evening television broadcast. When speakers use Kriol, we have carefully rendered their words using a standard spelling system.

 

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