- WEST PALM BEACH (AP) -- Health
officials have declared a countywide medical alert for mosquito-borne diseases
in Palm Beach County after three men were diagnosed with malaria.
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- County health officials said Monday the alert - in effect
through Sept. 14 - will lead to an increase in mosquito-spraying efforts.
Residents will be encouraged to take precautions when venturing outdoors.
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- The county's third malaria victim was treated and released
from JFK Medical Center Sunday with mild nausea. The 32-year-old man, whose
name was not released, was from Lake Worth, said Ed Bradford, the county's
director of mosquito control.
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- The man told his doctor he thinks he was bitten outside
his home. He appears to have become sickened around the same time as two
other men whose cases became known late last month.
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- "He actually said he was getting better for a while,
then got worse," said Dr. Suzanne Succop, who has treated all three
of Palm Beach County's malaria victims this summer.
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- County officials had issued an alert zone for the central
part of the county but decided to include the entire area following the
emergence of the third case.
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- Jeff Smith, 37, one of the men who contracted malaria
last month, was laid up for two weeks with cold sweats and a 102-degree
fever. His neighbor, Tom Fogleman, 48, came down with the symptoms about
the same time.
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- Most of the 1,200 cases of malaria diagnosed in the United
States each year involve people who have traveled to infected areas, such
as Asia, Africa, Central and South America, the Mediterranean countries
and islands in the Pacific and Caribbean.
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- Information from: The Palm Beach Post
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