The Costa Rican Social Security Fund (CCSS) announced that epidemiological surveillance actions were intensified in the Northern Zone to detect people with malaria and prevent the spread that has focused on that region.
According to Dr. Catalina Ramírez Hernández, coordinator of Emerging and Re-emerging diseases, the alert was activated in the area to address the situation that has been increasing since 2016.
One of the concerns is that in Nicaragua there is an outbreak of malaria and part of the problem is that infected people come to Costa Rica.
Surveillance has been strengthened in the 140 kilometers of the northern border with Nicaragua, in addition to 57 health facilities in the area with extreme measures to thoroughly analyze each case of high fever and sweating.
In 2019, 19 patients with this disease were treated. The last autochthonous outbreak of malaria in Costa Rica occurred in 2006 and since 2016, imported cases have been reported in the border area with Nicaragua.