Contagious Disease Current Events

Malaria returns to Greece

The impact of Greece economic crisis affects not only their population’s wallets, but also their health as well.  Contagious diseases such as malaria and HIV are on the rise in Greece.

Some 70 cases have been reported there this year, and at least 12 people appear to have been infected in the country. (The others picked up the disease elsewhere.)

That’s a concern for health workers because it means malaria may now be endemic to Greece — and not just hitching a ride with travelers.

KPCC reports that:

Budget cuts have been tough on Greece’s health services, causing medication shortages and a sharp rise in HIV cases over the past year. Cuts to public health spending could also be contributing to malaria’s reappearance, says Dr. Apostolos Veizis, who directs Doctors Without Borders’ operations in Greece.

2 Comments

  1. Agree that this is absolutely a concern, but just want to note that malaria is not a contagious disease. Contagious diseases are a subset of infectious diseases that are easily spread by human physical contact. Malaria, by contrast, is passed when a mosquito bites and infected person and then, at the right stage in the parasite’s life cycle, bites an uninfected person.

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