Health Ministry has begun screening visitors who arrive from countries where Filariasis is rampant and spreading.
This comes after several cases of the eradicated disease popped up in the Northern City of Kulhudhufushi last week. Health Protection Agency HPA said that the cases were detected at a health screening targeted for migrant workers on the occasion of World Aids Day.
The Agency said that 17 foreigners tested positive for the disease from Kulhudhufushi.
The Health Ministry said that some of the foreigners who arrive in the Maldives come from countries where Filariasis is rampant and that these visitors would be screened with special attention given to these cases.
The Ministry also indicated that they would begin treatment for all the positive cases that are unearthed from this screening.
Filariasis is a parasitic disease caused by an infection with roundworms of the Filarioidea type. These are spread by blood-feeding insects such as black flies and mosquitoes. They belong to the group of diseases called helminthiases.
The Maldives last reported a case of Filariasis back in 2004 and a survey in 2008 revealed that the disease has been eradicated from the Maldives.
In 2016, Maldives was validated by the World Health Organization as one of only two of the nine endemic countries in the South East Asia Region to have successfully eliminated lymphatic filariasis.
