KINGSTON, Jamaica — Crews sprayed pesticides and cleared stagnant water around the Jamaican capital yesterday as authorities fought the country’s first malaria outbreak in 40 years.The Ministry of Health also conducted house-to-house surveys in affected neighbourhoods to check for people with symptoms of the mosquito-born illness.

Authorities have confirmed 43 cases of malaria since the outbreak began in November, Health Minister Horace Dalley said. There have been no reported deaths from the illness.

The outbreak prompted the US Centers for Disease Control to advise travellers to take anti-malarial medicine if they plan to spend the night in the Jamaican capital. A US resident who travelled to the Caribbean island from October 29 to November 6 contracted the illness.

There have been no reports of malaria in any of the main resort areas of Jamaica and all of the cases have so far been found in the Kingston metropolitan area, the ministry said.

Basil Smith, director of the state-run Jamaica Tourist Board, said visitors have no reason for concern. “I’m confident that the government’s aggressive campaign to stop the outbreak will be successful very soon,” he said.

This was Jamaica’s first outbreak of malaria since 1965 and the source of the illness was not yet known, health ministry officials said.

Jamaican lawmakers approved a US$450,000 emergency appropriation to combat the disease and authorities ordered all medical centres to stay open on weekends until the outbreak was contained.

Malaria is one of the world’s deadliest diseases, killing about one million children a year in poor countries with warm, damp climates ideal for the mosquitoes that transmit the parasite that carries the disease.

Early symptoms include fever, chills, headaches, nausea and body aches. Untreated, severe cases can result in death.