Cozumel Health Officials Step Up Prevention Against Malaria and Dengue

Cozumel, Quintana Roo — Health authorities in Cozumel are ramping up preventive measures against malaria and dengue after a probable malaria case was detected in a visitor from another state.

Hugo Alberto Pérez Rosas, head of the Vector Control Department at the Cozumel Health Secretariat, said the case involved a tourist from a state with endemic malaria, not a local resident. He explained that any suspected case triggers protocols including fever searches and health cordons, along with public information campaigns about symptoms such as headache, sweating, and tertian fever.

Pérez Rosas noted that Quintana Roo holds a malaria-free certification but remains vulnerable to imported cases from endemic areas like Chiapas. Constant epidemiological and entomological surveillance is maintained in areas with migrant populations, such as construction sites and the few livestock or agricultural zones on the island.

Health workers conduct thick blood smear tests as part of malaria surveillance. The official urged residents traveling to states with malaria to get tested upon return. Tests are processed at the Playa del Carmen laboratory, with results available within hours.

Regarding dengue, Pérez Rosas said suspected case reports remain low on the island, but preventive actions have not stopped. For two months, mass fogging has been carried out in urban areas, with morning brigades targeting green spaces and illegal dumpsites, and vehicles spraying neighborhoods in the afternoon.

“Every day there is activity to control adult mosquitoes, which helps break the transmission cycle,” he explained.

Fogging continues in the urban area to control disease-carrying mosquito populations. Brigades are currently working in the López Mateos neighborhood, where indoor fumigation and thick blood smear tests for malaria are being conducted. Pérez Rosas asked residents to allow brigades access, noting that fumigation also combats other pests like cockroaches and ticks.

“It is important for the public to support these actions because they protect family health and keep historically risky diseases under control in the region,” he concluded.