Newly Arrived African Migrants to Spain: Epidemiology and Burden of Disease

Abstract

The aim of this study is to describe the epidemiological profile, clinical characteristics, and microbiological findings in African immigrants newly arrived to Spain attended at a specialized reference unit from October 2004 to February 2017. A common protocol for the screening of imported and cosmopolitan diseases was designed to evaluate patients with ≤ 12 months of stay in Spain. A total of 523 patients were included in the study, 488 (93.3%) of sub-Saharan origin. A high number of helminthic infections were diagnosed in sub-Saharan patients, including geohelminthiasis (hookworms 14.3%; 4.1%; 3.1%), schistosomiasis (12.3%), strongyloidiasis (17.2%), and filariasis (8.4%). Thirty-five patients (7.2%) had malaria, most by Among communicable diseases, 33.6% of sub-Saharans presented HBsAg positivity compared with 5.7% of North African patients ( = 0.001). Thirteen patients were diagnosed with active tuberculosis. Seventy percent of the sub-Saharans and 40% of the North Africans who were tested had a latent tuberculosis infection (LTI). Treatment of LTI was administered in selected cases (14%), achieving end of treatment in 80% of them. In light of these results, effective screening strategies, particularly within the sub-Saharan immigrant population, including potentially communicable diseases and certain potentially serious parasitic diseases (, ), should be implemented. It is necessary to facilitate fully and free of charge access to the public health system to newly arrived immigrants, as well as to implement programs and actions aimed at favoring care and follow-up, especially for communicable diseases. Empirical treatment of some parasitic diseases could be a cost-effective action.

Strongyloidiasis screening in migrants living in Spain: systematic review and meta‐analysis

“…The Egger coefficient was 2.2 (P = 0.016), showing significant risk of publication bias. Thirteen studies including altogether 5366 patients employed an ELISA-based serological test (Table 2) [22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34] to detect S. stercoralis IgG antibodies. These studies found a prevalence of strongyloidiasis ranging from 5.5% to 26.8%, and of 14% (95%CI 11-17%) overall.…”

“…After duplicate articles were removed, 495 articles were screened for potential eligibility by title and abstract, and 48 articles were selected for full‐text review (see flow diagram in Figure ). Finally, 24 studies were included in the review and meta‐analysis, comprising 12 386 screened people . Main characteristics of the included studies are summarised in Tables and .…”

High Prevalence of Strongyloidiasis in Spain: A Hospital-Based Study

“…Available data suggest that it is known to vary substantially, depending on the country of origin, being particularly high in people coming from countries such as Cambodia (36%) or Latin American countries (26%) [21]. Hospital-based prevalence studies conducted in specialized units have suggested that the prevalence of S.stercoralis is between 4.5% and 11% in migrant populations [22][23][24]. Available data suggest a higher prevalence of infection in immunosuppressed individuals at risk [25][26][27].…”

Risk map of transmission of urogenital schistosomiasis by Bulinus truncatus (Audouin, 1827) (Mollusca Gastropoda, Bulinidae) in Spain and Portugal

“…No cases of autochthonous transmission have been reported to date (Martínez-Ortí et al, 2015). In Spain, the disease has been diagnosed in four hospitals: 1) Poniente Hospital in El Ejido (Almería) (Salas-Coronas in Ríos 2011, Salas-Coronas et al, 2018; 2) Hospital Universitario Materno-Infantil de Canarias, in Gran Canaria (Ramos Macías et al, 2010); 3) Vall d'Hebron Hospital in Barcelona (Bocanegra et al, 2014); and 4) Hospital Clinic de Barcelona (Calvo-Cano et al, 2015). The ages of patients ranged from 20 to 30 years.…”