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. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]