Swiss Medical Weekly
Volume 147, Issue 41-42, 2017

Malaria cases in Switzerland from 2005 to 2015 and recent rise of imported plasmodium vivax malaria (Article) (Open Access)

Gilles E.* , Sophie D.-P. , Anne M. , François C. , Nicole G.
  • a Division of Tropical and Humanitarian Medicine, Department of Community Medicine, Primary and Emergency Care, Geneva University Hospitals (HUG), Switzerland, Service de Médecine Tropi-cale et Humanitaire, Dé-partement de Médecine Communautaire, de Premier Recours et des Urgences, HUG, Rue Gabrielle-Perret-Gentil 4, Genève 14, CH-1211, Switzerland
  • b Migrant Health Programme, Department of Community Medicine, Primary and Emergency Care, Geneva University Hospitals (HUG), Switzerland
  • c Department of Genetics and Laboratory Medicine, Geneva University Hospitals (HUG), Geneva, Switzerland
  • d Division of Tropical and Humanitarian Medicine, Department of Community Medicine, Primary and Emergency Care, Geneva University Hospitals (HUG), Switzerland
  • e Communicable Disease Division, Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH), Bern, Switzerland

Abstract

Reporting cases of malaria to the Federal Office of Public Health has been mandatory in Switzerland since 1974. We analysed notifications of imported confirmed malaria cases between 2005 and 2015 in Switzerland or Liechtenstein. Data for previously visited countries, nationality and reason for travelling were analysed. In contrast with the impressive drop of malaria cases reported worldwide since 2000, we found that the number of malaria cases imported yearly in Switzerland doubled in 2014 and 2015 compared to the average for the preceding decade. Since 2014, Plasmodium vivax infection represented 36% of all diagnosed malaria cases in Switzerland, compared to 11% in the decade leading to 2013. Most of the vivax malaria patients originated from the Horn of Africa, especially from Eritrea. This rise in cases was a consequence not only of an increase in the number of Eritrean refugees, but also their vivax malaria incidence rate, which jumped from 1–3 previously to 12 in 2014. This is a trend that is not matched by national statistics in Eritrea. An unreported increased incidence in the country of origin (Eritrea) might be the cause of the rise of Pv cases imported into Switzerland, but infections are also likely to occur along the harsh and long migration journey. This epidemiology highlights the need to register and use primaquine for the treatment of latent-phase P. vivax malaria in Switzerland, a medicine currently neither marketed nor systematically reimbursed. Moreover, general practitioners should be aware of this specific epidemiological situation in order to avoid misdiagnosis of febrile Eritreans even months after they reach Switzerland. © 2017 EMH Swiss Medical Publishers Ltd.All Rights Reserved.

Author Keywords

Re-emergence Plasmodium vivax immigrants Asylum seekers Refugees Eritrea Malaria Switzerland

Index Keywords

immigrant Eritrea refugee tourism human trend study travel controlled study Incidence Article Ethiopia major clinical study South Sudan primaquine Somalia drug use Plasmodium vivax malaria Switzerland Sudan
Link
https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85046618651&doi=10.4414%2fsmw.2017.14510&partnerID=40&md5=613043578a63b6250ed2efa70b5f314a
DOI: 10.4414/smw.2017.14510
ISSN: 14247860
Cited by: 1
Original Language: English