The risk of imported malaria in security forces personnel returning from overseas missions in the context of prevention of re-introduction of malaria to Sri Lanka

Malaria Journal

Research

Priyani Dharmawardana¹  Risintha Premaratne¹  Chaturaka Rodrigo²  Sumadhya Deepika Fernando³  Geetha Epasinghe³  Niroshana Senanayake³  Saveen Semege⁴ 

[1] Anti Malaria Campaign, 555/5 Public Health Building Complex, Narahenpita, Colombo 5, Sri Lanka;Department of Clinical Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo, Colombo, Sri Lanka;Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo, 25, Kynsey Road, Colombo 08, Sri Lanka;Sri Lanka Army Health Services, Army Headquarters, Baladaksha Mawatha, Colombo 03, Sri Lanka;

关键词: Malaria;    Chemoprophylaxis;    Malaria elimination;    Prevention of re-introduction;    Sri Lanka;    Security forces;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12936-016-1204-y

 received in 2016-01-02, accepted in 2016-03-01,  发布年份 2016

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundSri Lanka is a malaria-free country. However it remains surrounded by countries with endemic malaria transmission. Since the last indigenous case of malaria was reported in October 2012, only imported malaria cases have been diagnosed with 36 cases detected in 2015, which includes 17 cases each of Plasmodium vivax and Plasmodium falciparum and two cases of Plasmodium ovale.MethodsThis study investigated the knowledge and practices regarding malaria chemoprophylaxis among all the Sri Lankan security forces personnel returning from peacekeeping missions in malaria endemic countries over a 7 month period. Adherence to other malaria prevention measures, occurrence of adverse events and incident cases of malaria were also recorded maintaining the anonymity of the respondents. Potential associations for non-compliance were studied.ResultsInterviews were carried out with 559 security forces personnel returning home from foreign deployments in malaria-endemic regions (males: 550, 98.4 %). The majority (553, 98.9 %) was well aware of the need for chemoprophylaxis during the overseas stay and its regular use as prescribed. The overall adherence to chemoprophylaxis was good with 78.7 % (440/559) reporting regular, as prescribed, use. Having better educational qualifications, being female, being prescribed mefloquine, having fever during deployment and belonging to a security force other than the army were significantly associated with poor compliance (p < 0.05).ConclusionsThe study reveals that knowledge regarding malaria chemoprophylaxis among Sri Lankan security forces personnel serving abroad was good, a fact that may have contributed to absence/extremely low incidence of malaria during deployment.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© Fernando et al. 2016