Predictive factors of severe disease secondary to falciparum malaria among travelers

Abstract

Objectives: To identify independent risk factors of severe falciparum malaria among travelers to endemic regions.

Materials and methods: A retrospective study on imported malaria into metropolitan France. The World's Health Organization severity criteria were used to classify malarial episodes.

Results: Nine hundred and twenty-one malarial cases were studied; 81 were severe. Independent risk factors of severe malaria were aged above 40 years, high level of parasitized erythrocytes (more than 4%), parasite acquisition in the south-eastern asian region, infection with a chloroquine resistant Plasmodium falciparum (P. falciparum) phenotype and a self administered antimalarial treatment.

Conclusion: This study points out two particularly interesting results: severe malaria is significantly associated with the infection by a chloroquine resistant P. falciparum phenotype and with the parasite's acquisition in the south-eastern asian region.