In a follow-up to a report earlier this month concerning the malaria epidemic in Venezuela, the organization, Observatorio Venezolano de la Salud (OVS) estimates the number of cases by the end of 2016 will be 350,000 (computer translated).
Through August 2016, nearly 150,000 malaria cases have been reported, a 72 percent increase over 2015. In recent weeks, Venezuela is reporting between 3000 and 5000 malaria cases a week.
In all of 2015, 136,402 cases were officially registered; however, OVS says other estimates suggest a real number close to a million cases.
The projected 350,000 cases for 2016 by the OVS would account for 50 percent of all malaria cases on the continent.
The Former Minister of Health, José Felix Oletta said tmost cases are being reported from Bolívar state (~80 percent linked to mining), and there are pockets in Miranda, Vargas, Aragua and Portuguese.
La Sociedad Parasitológica Venezolana (Venezuelan Parasitology Society) notes the current focus of the epidemic impacts the entire country, including areas where the malaria was eliminated to include Miranda, Vargas).
They call it the worst malaria epidemic in 75 years, which contrasts with the current trends of descent or even of elimination of malaria in the American continent. The Society says the irony is Venezuela was an example and a model of public health when in 1961 the World Health Organization reported Venezuela as the first country in the world to eliminate this parasite.
They anticipate a worsening of the epidemic, especially in light of shortages of drugs that treat Plasmodium falciparum.