Gloucester Township Woman Diagnosed With Malaria Following West African Trip

The Gloucester Township woman who tested positive for malaria following her trip to West Africa wants the public they are in no danger.

The woman checked into Kennedy Health System in Stratford Tuesday night after she contracted a fever.

Malaria is not transmitted person-to-person. Officials believe she contracted it after being bit by an infected mosquito during a trip to West Africa. The identity of the woman and the specifics of her trip were not provided.

Fever is one of the signs of the ebola virus, but that has been ruled out in this case. Officials say the woman likely contracted malaria after receiving a bite from an infected mosquito while traveling to West Africa. The specifics of her trip were not available.

Those who contract malaria show other flu-like symptoms, but the woman in this situation has only shown a fever so far.

“It’s curable if it’s caught early,” Claudia Funaro, Director of Nursing with the Camden County Health Department, said during a press conference Wednesday afternoon at the Camden County Department of Health and Human Services DiPiero Center in Gloucester Township. “I am optimistic on her prognosis.”

In accordance with mandated travel surveillance instituted by the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Camden County Health Department had been monitoring her twice a day for any signs of communicable disease. The woman was not quarantined, but there is no danger to anyone she may have come in contact with, officials said.

The surveillance began when she returned on Aug. 7 and lasts 21 days.

Around 6:13 p.m. Tuesday night, she developed a fever that required a full response from first responders, for precautionary reasons.

Officials praised the response from Gloucester Township EMTs, the police department, the county Haz-Mat and county health department officials.

“They exceeded all protocols for the situation,” Camden County Freeholder Director Louis Cappelli Jr. said.

First responders made use of the training received during a seminar on how to handle the ebola virus that was held at the Camden County Emergency Training Center in Gloucester Township in October.

The training was held after hysteria broke out over the virus last year. This included Princeton resident and former NBC Chief Medical Reporter Dr. Nancy Snyderman and her crew violating an ebola quarantine after returning to New Jersey from Africa. One of her camermen contracted the disease while covering the outbreak overseas.

On Wednesday, a person with symptoms that “meet the criteria” for the deadly Ebola virus was transported to Manhattan’s Bellevue Hospital Center after recently traveling abroad.

According to Camden County Health Officer Paschal Nwako, this is the first case in which a Camden County resident has reported an elevated temperature after traveling abroad since August of last year.

In the attached image, Camden County Freeholder Director Louis Cappelli Jr. speaks during a press conference Wednesday afternoon in Gloucester Township.