Malaria outbreak in Venezuela

Statistics published this week by Venezuela’s Health Ministry show that malaria cases have doubled so far this year, particularly in Bolivar, where officials say there is an epidemic.  21,601 cases of malaria have been reported nationwide so far this year, up from 10,758 during the same period last year.

Public health officials attribute the rise in malaria in part to a government-led operation this year in which soldiers have evicted thousands of miners from illegal strip-mines.  That has led to a movement of displaced miners to other towns, and they have carried the disease with them and helped it spread into areas that didn’t used to have much malaria.

For more details, read the report published by the Miami Herald.