Malaria and dengue are important problems in Japan particularly since international travel to developing countries has become increasingly popular. To describe the clinical features of malaria and dengue cases in Japan, a retrospective study was conducted on 50 malaria cases and 40 dengue cases presented to the National Centre for Global Health and Medicine of Japan between 2005 and 2010. The most frequent area of acquisition for cases of malaria was Africa (76.0%), and for dengue fever was Asia (90.0%). Although the immigrant population is very small in Japan, patients categorized as visiting friends and relatives were relatively high in proportion, which is similar to Western reports. Confirmed cases of malaria and dengue account for less than 10% of the all travelers returning with any health problems according to the National Centre for Global Health and Medicine. Careful observation of symptoms and signs helps the differential diagnosis of malaria and dengue.

Tropical medicine Returned travelers Dengue Japanese travelers Malaria

pyrimethamine sulfadoxine atovaquone plus proguanil differential diagnosis Diagnosis, Differential neurological complication Japanese vomiting human Developing Countries middle aged Asia travel priority journal Malaria artesunate nausea nonhuman doxycycline dengue Young Adult Humans liver toxicity syndrome Dengue virus Treatment Outcome import disease male Japan antimalarial agent female South America enzyme linked immunosorbent assay Africa Disease Transmission, Infectious clinical article post malaria neurological syndrome Conference Paper diarrhea chloroquine plus primaquine Plasmodium disease transmission Retrospective Studies real time polymerase chain reaction Parasitemia adult fever malaria falciparum artemether plus benflumetol Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay artemisinin derivative immunoglobulin G immunoglobulin M Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction mefloquine chloroquine