Imported Malaria in Egypt

Abstract

Background: With the dramatic increase in international travel among Egyptian people, the risk of malaria importation from malaria-endemic regions threatens the achievement of the malaria elimination goal of Egypt. Patients and methods: Blood samples from 700 patients were collected from different medical laboratories in Egypt from travelers to African endemic areas either Egyptians or foreigners coming to Egypt within previous 8 weeks; during period from January to December 2016. All samples were done by direct microscopic examination of the Giemsa-stained thick and thin blood smears (“gold standard”), as well as the rapid diagnostic test (RDT) (Accurate MAL-w23, Polymed) for feverish cases as a confirmatory test. Results: A total of 25;3.57%(out of 700) imported malaria cases were recorded.P. falciparum (15 cases,60%) and P. vivax (14 cases, 56%) were the two predominant species as well as one case (4%)P ovale. From them 4 cases had mixedP.falciparum and P.vivax and one case had P. falciparum and ovale, The cases were coming from 11 African countries and their distribution was, Sudan,11; Nigeria, 5; Ghana,3; Cameroon,1; Angola,1; Congo,1; Chad,1; Guinea,1; Togo,1; South Africa,1; and Eritrea,1case. RDT was performed for feverish (300) patients and positive results were obtained among 27 cases. Twenty five of them had parasitemia while the other two had history of past infection. Conclusions: Imported malaria infections pose an increasing challenge to the malaria elimination in Egypt. The risk of potential re-introduction of malaria into inland malaria free areas of Egypt should be urgently addressed, also the rapid di­agnostic tests (RDTs), offer a useful tool for rapid diagnosis in suspected cases.