What clinicians who practice in countries reaching malaria elimination should be aware of: lessons learnt from recent experience in Sri Lanka

Malaria Journal

Case Report

Gowrie Galappaththy¹  Thusha Nawasiwatte²  Roshanthi Fernando²  Ranjan Premaratna²  H Janaka de Silva²  Nilanthi R de Silva³  Nilmini Chandrasena³ 

[1] Anti-Malaria Campaign, Colombo, Sri Lanka;Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Kelaniya, Colombo, Sri Lanka;Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Kelaniya, Colombo, Sri Lanka;

关键词: Malaria;    Malaria Case;    Dengue Fever;    Leptospirosis;    Vivax Malaria;   

DOI  :  10.1186/1475-2875-10-302

 received in 2011-07-13, accepted in 2011-10-14,  发布年份 2011

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

Following progressive reduction in confirmed cases of malaria from 2002 to 2007 (41,411 cases in 2002, 10,510 cases in 2003, 3,720 cases in 2004, 1,640 cases in 2005, 591 cases in 2006, and 198 cases in 2007). Sri Lanka entered the pre-elimination stage of malaria in 2008. One case of indigenous malaria and four other cases of imported malaria are highlighted here, as the only patients who presented to the Professorial Medical Unit, Colombo North Teaching Hospital, Ragama, Sri Lanka over the past eight years, in contrast to treating several patients a week about a decade ago. Therefore, at the eve of elimination of malaria from Sri Lanka, it is likely that the infection is mostly encountered among travellers who return from endemic areas, or among the military who serve in un-cleared areas of Northern Sri Lanka. They may act as potential sources of introducing malaria as until malaria eradication is carried out. These cases highlight that change in the symptomatology, forgetfulness regarding malaria as a cause of acute febrile illness and deterioration of the competency of microscopists as a consequence of the low disease incidence, which are all likely to contribute to the delay in the diagnosis. The importance regarding awareness of new malaria treatment regimens, treatment under direct observation, prompt notification of suspected or diagnosed cases of malaria and avoiding blind use of anti-malarials are among the other responsibilities expected of all clinicians who manage patients in countries reaching malaria elimination.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© Premaratna et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2011