11 Malaria patients found in Thailand’s east, blood from monkeys on Koh Chang tested

The eastern Thai province of Trat has reported 11 malaria patients, 9 from Koh Chang and 2 from the Bor Rai district. The type of malaria found in the residents is the parasite plasmodium knowlesi. The disease was first detected in the local monkey population and then transmitted to humans by mosquitoes. Blood from random monkeys on Koh Chang has been tested in efforts to control the spread of the disease.

According to the report, the officers had tested the monkeys’ blood to locate the source of malaria 2 months ago, when the 9 cases were reported. However, the officers found a different type of disease called Plasmodium falciparum, a more deadly strain of Malaria that hadn’t been detected in humans in the area before.

Yesterday, officers from the Koh Chang Livestock Office and Mu Ko Chang National Park collected blood from monkeys again, both wild and street ‘soi’ monkeys, to more accurately find sources of the small Malaria outbreak in the area.

Humans will become infected when they are bitten by female Anopheles mosquitoes that had bitten the infected monkeys previously.

Nearly 100 patients with plasmodium knowlesi malaria have now been reported from the end of 2021 and into 2022 Ranong, Songkhla, and Trat found the highest number of patients, and one death reported in Songkhla, southern Thailand. All 5 known human malaria parasites have been reported in Thailand, with Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium vivax predominant. About 135,000 cases of Malaria were detected in Thailand in 2020.

The officers are urging residents in the risk areas, and tourists, to take proper precautions against mosquito bites, and avoiding getting near or touching monkeys.

Avoiding Dengue is much the same as avoiding Malaria, avoid mosquito bites! HERE’S some ways to protest yourself. In both cases, prevention is a LOT better than cure.

SOURCE: Thai PBS