A Case Series of Imported Malaria Caused by Plasmodium falciparum in Kayseri and Review of Literature

Abstract

Malaria is a major worldwide public health problem. In the last years, no domestic cases of malaria have been detected and cases of imported malaria exist only in Turkey. In this study, clinical and laboratory findings of five Plasmodium falciparum (P. falciparum) malaria patients who were admitted to the emergency department between January 2013 and December 2015 were retrospectively presented. One of the patients was an African student, and the other patients had a history of travelling to Africa. Ring formation was observed when Giemsa staining was performed on the blood smears of all patients, and in three patients, P. falciparum was also detected using multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR) (Bio-Rad, United States of America). P. falciparum was not detected by PCR in the other two patients. Malaria should be primarily considered in febrile patients who have a history of travelling to endemic regions, and peripheral blood smears should definitely be examined.

Imported Malaria in Turkey: The Importance of Diagnosis and Treatment of Plasmodium falciparum/Plasmodium vivax Mixed Infection

“…DSÖ'nün 2016 yılı raporunda son yılda 212 milyon yeni sıtma olgusunun eklendiği, coğrafik dağılım açısından birinci sırada Afrika'nın (%90), ikinci sırada Güney Doğu Asya'nın (%7) yer aldığı, diğer bölgelerde daha az oranda (%3) görüldüğü bildirilmiştir (2). Ülkemizde yerli bulaşa neden olan türün Plasmodium vivax (P. vivax) olduğu kabul edilmekte, diğer plasmodium türlerinin neden olduğu sıtma olguları ise dış kaynaklı import olgular olarak değerlendirilmektedir (3,4). Özellikle Plasmodium falciparum (P. falciparum) sıtmasında parazitemi daha yoğun olduğu ve mortalite daha yüksek olduğu için erken tanı ve tedavi önemlidir (2).…”