Fast-breaking News from AABB PulsePoints The following has been reproduced from the December 5, 2006 AABB PulsePoints, an electronic news alert provided by the American Association of Blood Banks.

December 5, 2006
No. 759

CDC Recommends Malaria Chemoprophylaxis For Travelers to Kingston, Jamaica

AABB PulsePoints

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has notified AABB and other blood collection agencies that, until further notice, it is recommending malaria chemoprophylaxis for travelers who may stay overnight in Kingston, Jamaica. Travelers to other areas of the island do not need to take an antimalarial drug. This recommendation is expected to be temporary.

AABB recommends potential blood donors who have traveled to Kingston, Jamaica, should be deferred for 12 months. Based on the likelihood that transmission first occurred in late October and to allow for the possibility that transmission could have occurred prior to the first detected case, deferral should be implemented as soon as possible for travel to Kingston, Jamaica, using a beginning travel date of Oct. 1, 2006.

CDC took this precaution as a result of the following information it received from Ministry of Health of Jamaica and the Pan American Health Organization:

1. The outbreak is believed to have started in late October 2006, with 13 confirmed cases of malaria.
2. The 13 cases were confirmed in residents of Jamaica. Eleven of the cases occurred in three neighborhoods within the city of Kingston, Jamaica; the other two cases were in Sydenham, St. Catherine, a neighboring province. All 13 confirmed infections were caused by Plasmodium falciparum.
3. An additional malaria infection was confirmed in a U.S. resident who traveled to the island from Oct. 29 through Nov. 6.
4. Malaria is not considered endemic on the island of Jamaica. The Ministry of Health in Jamaica has responded with heightened surveillance for malaria cases, mosquito control measures (larviciding and spraying) and education of the local population. The Caribbean Epidemiology Center and the Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization are assisting the Ministry of Health with these response measures.

For further details, visit the CDC Web site at http://www.cdc.gov/travel/other/2006/malaria_jamaica.htm.