A site receptivity study to determine the threat of the re-introduction and re-establishment of malaria in Grenada

ABSTRACT

Malaria was eradicated from Grenada in 1962 and the island has since remained free of the disease. The resurgence of malaria in endemic areas, as well as in countries where it had been previously eradicated, provided the impetus for a study to assess the risk of the re-introduction and re-establishment of malaria in Grenada. This study surveyed the recorded historical breeding sites of Anopheles spp in Grenada between April 1996 and April 1997, thereby encompassing two dry seasons and one wet season. Although the threat of imported cases of malaria into Grenada has never been greater since the eradication of the disease, the results of this study indicate that the re-establishment of malaria as a serious public health problem is less likely. The unfamiliarity of diagnosis of malaria in this malaria free country, coupled with the presence of the vectors, however, mandates that malaria surveillance must be maintained, particularly since the government's spending on vector control activities has been reduced over the years