Some 140 cases of malaria were reported in Qatar last year, sources said Monday, quoted by the Gulf Times newspaper.
“All of the cases were imported from some malaria-endemic countries,” the sources said.
All 140 cases received anti-malaria treatment. No one required radical anti-malarial therapy, said the report.
“We have not been able to confirm how many received radical anti-malaria treatment outside the state,” the sources said.
Pakistanis topped the list of malaria patients with 52.1 percent, followed by Sudanese (20.7 percent), Indians (17.9 percent) and other nationalities (17.9 percent), they said.
A majority of the victims contracted the disease in their country of origin. However, a Qatari reportedly contracted malaria while in Saudi Arabia.
Qatar’s health authorities have been strictly following the WHO guidelines with regard to malaria surveillance and treatment. Qatar is the third Gulf Cooperation Council state to screen blood donors for malarial parasites, the paper said – Albawaba.com
