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Originally Posted by Chris
I think this is wrongly stated. One contracts malaria from a mosquito bite (Anopheles mosquito). Unless I misunderstand and malaria carrying Haitians were biting the tourists  |
Actually, Chris they are - indirectly.
Here is a cut & paste of a posting I did on another board about this issue:
In the Punta Cana area there are two issues which together "cause" the malaria outbreaks; kind of like a "perfect storm".
1) In order for malaria to be spread there must be female Anopheles mosquitoes present. This is why the presence of standing water is critical for an outbreak to be present because there must be large numbers of these mosquitoes in order for the mosquito - human interaction to occur. The standing water is an ideal breeding ground for mosquitoes.
2) In addition there must be a source of the malaria parasite present in the area (in human carriers) in order for the female Anopheles mosquito to become a carrier (the mosquitoes are not born with the parasite present; it must be acquired). The mosquitoes bite an infected carrier and then become carriers themselves and deposit the parasite in a previously uninfected individual via their bite. The fact that there are significant numbers of construction projects in the Punta Cana area and the fact that the majority of DR construction workers are Haitian (a population with a higher than average incidence of being malaria carriers due to the high malaria statistics in their home country) provides the parasite pool which allows the female Anopheles mosquitoes to become carriers themselves.
For the past couple of years Punta Cana has been fertile ground for malaria transmission since there is above average construction as well as above average rainfall - especially last Fall from Hurricane Jeanne.
Gregg