• María Asunción Iborra, Elisa García, Bartolomé Carrilero, and Manuel Segovia.
• Unidad Regional de Medicina Tropical, Servicio de Microbiología y Parasitología, Hospital Universitario Virgen de la Arrixaca, Carretera Madrid-Cartagena, 30120 El Palmar (Murcia), España. asunib@yahoo.com
• Rev Esp Quimioter. 2013 Mar 1; 26 (1): 6-11.

IntroductionThe increasing frequency of malaria infection in our area is due to the rise in international travel and immigration from endemic malaria areas. The aim of this study is to describe the chemoprophylaxis taken and treatment given as well as the clinical, epidemiological and microbiological characteristics for those patients admitted to our hospital with malaria.MethodsA retrospective study of patients with malaria admitted to the Hospital Virgen de la Arrixaca, between January 1998 and December 2010, was carried out.ResultsDuring this period, fifty one cases of malaria were diagnosed. 78.3% of them were immigrants of whom 65% resided in Spain and had travelled to their country of origin for a short stay. Seventy four per cent acquired the infection in central and west Africa, and Plasmodium falciparum was responsible for the majority of the cases (88%). Only four patients had taken antimalarial chemoprophylaxis but none correctly. The most frequently treatment used was a combination of quinine and doxycicline (64.7%). Inappropriate anti-malarial treatment occurred in 9 patients (17.6%). At least one indicator of severe malaria was established in 23.5% of the cases; however, the clinical outcome was successful in every case and no patient died.ConclusionsImported malaria is observed mostly among immigrants who travel to their countries of origin for a short stay and do not take anti-malarial prophylaxis, increasing the risk of acquiring malaria. Inappropriate malarial treatment is relatively frequent in the case management of imported malaria.

55 keywords...

hide…