The Ministry of Health of Colombia reported this Saturday the detection of two cases of malaria and the death of one of the patients, both from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and has put into operation the surveillance protocols provided to rule out other pathologies of relevance in public health, among them Ebola.
According to the first data released, one of those affected, a 33-year-old man whose condition was reported in Palmira (southwest of the country), died this same Saturday. The second patient, a 50-year-old man, remains hospitalized under isolation measures in a hospital center in Cali, a city close to Palmira, as detailed by the Health ministry in a press release.
The rapid response teams of the National Institute of Health (INS), together with the territorial health authorities, have collected the "corresponding samples" and have already begun the "laboratory verifications", although so far the only confirmed diagnosis in both patients is malaria.
In this regard, the authorities have indicated that the "field epidemiological investigation both in Palmira and in Cali to determine their movements in African territory, the exposure history and the possible identification of contacts" continues.
The same note specifies that follow-up is being carried out on "two people identified during the initial investigation, who report having a diagnosis of malaria and being under treatment".